


Episode 3-09 - "A Race Through Ruin"

by stgjr



Series: Undiscovered Frontier Season 3 - "The Coming Storm" [9]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy, Original Work
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Multiple Crossovers, Multiverse, Space Opera
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-06-25
Packaged: 2019-05-26 22:11:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 36,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15010517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stgjr/pseuds/stgjr
Summary: Robert joins Commander Shepard on the SSV Normandy in a mission to the planet Feros; the Aurora crew's search for a young Asari xenoarcheologist leads them to the hostile world of Therum.





	1. Chapter 1

**Teaser**  
  
  
_Personal Log: Robert Dale; 8 June 2643 AST. We're in our fourth week in the search for the rogue Spectre Saren Arterius. So far, our leads have all turned up empty. As things stand, we may have to wait until he makes a move, as much as I hate giving him any initiative. Maybe we or the others will get lucky and find something relevant before he strikes again._  
  
  
  
Robert looked up from his digital pad and considered his surroundings. The lighting on the _Normandy_ seemed dull compared to the _Aurora_. The low lighting made the walls navy blue in color. The surface of the floor was metallic hull plate, no carpeting or padding, so the blue meditation pad that _Mastrash_ Kilaba had gifted him when he left Umintamil was kept rolled up along the wall. He would meditate later, but right now he wanted to continue his log.  
  
  
  
_Adjusting to life on the_ Normandy _is a continuing process for me. It's a small ship, with a lot of space reserved for the ship's operating machinery. Doctor Chakwas continues to let me have access to her lab storage unit for personal space and meditation. I find the privacy necessary for the process.  
  
Over the last month I've spent whatever available time I've found between missions to get to know some of the others on the team and crew. Due to my use of her lab, I have often conversed with Doctor Chakwas, for whom the _ Normandy _is just the latest in a long series of postings in the Systems Alliance Navy. Her only time in a planetside posting these past few years was at New Brittany in S4W8 after its first liberation. Her stories of her experiences there match up with those Leo shared._  
  
  
  
Robert stopped for a moment. New Brittany, and the Retzoff concentration camp the Nazi SS had run near the planetary capital, was a particularly dark memory from his time as _Aurora_ 's captain. After several moments of considering that, he continued.  
  
  
  
_The ship's main helmsman, Joker, is a wit for certain, and he reminds me of Tom at times. I have to admit I did get tired of his mockery over my need to meditation. Not that I have to put up with it anymore. I seem to have convinced him that I am something of a living reactor and will explode if I don't meditate regularly, and since then I have not heard one mocking 'Ommmmm' from him.  
  
The rest of the team are an interesting set of individuals. Garrus Vakarian, the C-Sec officer, talks at length about his father's distrust of the Spectres. Garrus himself seems more frustrated with his father's attitude and the bureaucratic nature of C-Sec. Looking back, Garrus would have been quite a good fit into the Facility crews back in the day. His complaints sound little different than the ones I've heard from Angel and Tom about how things have changed since we founded the Alliance.  
  
I have to say I'm still a little surprised Shepard let Urdnot Wrex join the crew. His execution of Fist was uncalled for, contracts be damned. He's obviously a good fighter and a strong biotic, so he's certainly got a role on the team, but the way he shot Fist… and yet Lucy still seemed to be understanding of him last time I spoke to her. I know his switching sides at Tira was instrumental to preventing the genocide of the Dilgar, and maybe I'm being too harsh to him… I may have to meditate on this. As strange as it feels to replace "think" with "meditate", which demonstrates how my life has changed over the last couple of years._  
  
  
At that moment Robert decided he didn't want to dwell on Wrex any longer. When it came down to it, this was Shepard's ship. Shepard's team. He was here by her invitation and that meant he was obligated to show trust in her decisions. Given his prior experiences with Commander Shepard, training with her, fighting side-by-side on Gamma Piratus… she deserved that faith. He continued on.  
  
  
_Tali'Zorah nar_ Rayya _is another familiar face. So to speak. Tom sang her praises after that affair with the Batarian attack on the_ Aurora _and I can see why. Engineer Adams seems ready to induct her into the engineering staff officially. His reaction is a bit of an outlier, unfortunately. Some of the_ Normandy _crew seem to be unhappy with her presence, or her constant presence in the engine room. I overheard Pressly complaining to Shepard that she was a 'security risk'. The Normandy is a state-of-the-art stealth frigate for the Systems Alliance Navy and he felt letting Tali, or any of the aliens, have easy access to her workings was inappropriate_. _Shepard didn't dress him down like I thought she might, but I have to say she's very good at dealing with her crew's disagreements with her decisions without caving in to them. If I must be honest, Shepard, like Julia, is better suited for starship command than I was._  
  
  
Robert stopped at the moment and thought about what he'd just recorded. Almost two years ago, Jean-Luc Picard - himself an experienced starship captain - told Robert he considered Robert a promising captain. Was Picard wrong to think that way? Was he mistaken? Or was it a case that Robert had the capability to be one, if he actually devoted himself to it? He remembered when Maran asked him to command a ship in the new Alliance fleet with much the same argument; that he was a promising commander, and the Alliance could use him. _Maybe it just comes down to my choice taking me away from that path_ , Robert thought to himself. As that thought crossed his mind, his memory recalled another voice, that of the Doctor's TARDIS. _If you do this, your life will end_.  
  
Before Robert could continue those thoughts, or his log, a tone came over the ship P.A. " _This is Commander Shepard. All team members, report to the conference room immediately._ "  
  
Robert locked his digital reader and set it aside. It was time to see if they'd found any more traces of Saren.  
  
  
  
The uppermost deck of the _Normandy_ was taken up by various control stations, with the cockpit far to the front at the ship's bow and the Captain's station at the rear, just in front of a division wall bearing the ship's name. To either side were the doorways leading to the stairs down to the second deck, where the living spaces and infirmary were located, while behind the division wall was the door to the conference room.  
  
Said conference room was now occupied by Commander Shepard and the team she assembled. The aliens Robert had been mentioning in his log were already on hand, as were those team members he'd yet to comment on: technical specialist and biotic Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko and Marine infantrywoman Gunnery Sergeant Ashley Williams, sole survivor of the Geth massacre of her unit on Eden Prime.  
  
"We've still got nothing on Saren sightings for the last six days," Shepard said upon their assembly. "And nothing from the Geth cores we've recovered in our last operations."  
  
"It looks like the Geth may have figured out how I recovered the recording of Saren from the last core," Tali elaborated. "I can't get recoverable data from them anymore."  
  
"We could transmit it back to the _Aurora_ ," Robert offered. "Jarod and Cat might be able to find something."  
  
Shepard nodded. "I'll have Tali send all recovered data to you. Now, we do have one item of possible interest to consider. There's been increased activity at the Binary Helix labs on Noveria. The Citadel Council's had forensic accountants going over the company's books. Saren and Benezia have been funneling a lot of credits into the labs, enough to show they've got a major project of some sort that we know nothing of. Given the timing of the payments, though, we can be sure it involves their hunt for the Conduit."  
  
"Getting Noveria's authorities to let us into that lab won't be easy," Garrus pointed out. "They're big on privacy there."  
  
"Still, they're not completely independent," Robert said. "If they thought they were facing a direct Alliance and Citadel investigation into their businesses they might decide cooperation is safer for their other clients. Especially with Saren tied to Binary Helix, and through Helix to them."  
  
"If we have nothing else to consider, Noveria sounds like our best bet," Shepard said. "Anyone have anything to add?" When there was no answer she stood from her chair. "Then I'll go let Joker know about our new destination. We'll meet again when we arrive at Noveria. You're all dismissed."  
  


**Undiscovered Frontier  
 _"A Race Through Ruin"_**

  
  
After the meeting Robert went down to the armory. While the gear was almost entirely M4P2-made mass effect weapons and gear, he'd set aside a section for his personal armor, a set of Gersallian combat robes in brown color, and a rack of standard model pulse pistols.  
  
He sat on the bench and began checking his weapons. Since they were directed energy firearms, there was no need to be concerned with the kind of problems a chemical-propellant firearm, or even a mass effect one, might have. But these weapons had their own maintenance needs. Capacitors had to be checked to ensure they could hold the necessary charges, the firing chamber had to be calibrated, the charge clip loading area checked for any buildups of dust or material that could impede transferring the charges to the gun proper.  
  
Robert was halfway through the check procedure on the second gun when he noticed he wasn't alone. The next bench over was occupied by Ashley. She was in the middle of disassembling the M7 Lancer assault rifle in her personal kit. The weapon had its own unique look with the slope formed in the gun's body above the barrel, giving it a curved, circular look.  
  
For a moment it looked like Ashley hadn't even noticed Robert. It was only after he returned to work that she asked, "Why the robes?"  
  
Robert looked up. She was looking his way now. "They were a gift," he said. "From _Mastrash_ Kilaba, the abbess of the Umintamil monastery on Gersal. It was her way of congratulating me for finally gaining enough mastery over my augmented _swevyra_ powers that I could go back out into the Multiverse safely."  
  
" _Swev_ -what?"  
  
"My pronunciation of it sucks, even now," Robert mumbled. He cleared his throat. "The word has no proper translation into English, or German, or any other Human language I'm familiar with. It roughly translates as 'life force energy connected to all things'."  
  
"Sounds like a bunch of alien mysticism."  
  
There was something dismissive in her tone. Robert, for the moment, ignored it. "It can. But I've felt the truth in it. Some truth, anyway. There is an… energy, a force if you will, connecting all living things. Binding us together in a great flow of Life. It's what the Gersallians call it, actually. The Flow of Life. They just don't understand everything about it. I spent my time debating with them if the Flow itself had a guiding thought to it, an intelligence or being you might say."  
  
"God," Ashley said. "That's what it sounds like you're talking about."  
  
Robert nodded once. "It could be the Almighty, I guess. He, or it, or whatever… it spoke to me. In the form and voice of my grandfather. The force shielded my mind from the effects of the Time Vortex, it saved my life."  
  
"That's…" For a moment Ashley seemed at a loss for words. Robert sensed her incredulity. "I've heard a lot about these aliens wielding powers. I'm a little frightened by it, actually. They have enough advantages over Humanity. But if you… are you sure what it was?"  
  
"I'm not sure of the specifics, no," Robert replied. "It was a presence in the Flow of Life, a guiding Force, but it never gave me a name. Just a sense of its existence, and that there was far more to this than I or even the oldest Gersallian masters understand."  
  
"That sounds like what God should be." A distant look came to her eye. "Greater than anything we can think of."  
  
Robert nodded in agreement. He didn't feel it necessary to say anything. But he did have a question. "You said you were worried about aliens having these abilities. I get the feeling you're not happy with having non-Humans aboard."  
  
"Well, Tali's not a concern. The Quarians aren't a threat to Humanity. I'd almost say they're a warning of what can happen to us if we rely on the Council too much." Ashley glanced over to where Garrus was leaning against the ship's ATV, an M-35 Mako vehicle. "But the Turians? And that Krogan? I don't like the idea that they get to move freely around the most advanced ship in the Systems Alliance. They can learn things that might hurt us."  
  
Robert considered Ashley for a moment. He'd been around bigots before. He could remember the toxic nature of blind hate and fear. He remembered the taint of it on Admiral Davies and his aide. But he didn't sense that here, at least nowhere near to that level that disgusted him still. There was perhaps a level of fear, of worry anyway, and firm pride, but no hate.  
  
And yet… and yet he still got a whiff of it, of the mistrust and paranoia he'd felt in Davies. This was a woman who, with the wrong stimulus, could become just as bad.  
  
"I know I can't speak for the experiences of Mankind in this universe," he said, "but I've seen other universes that confirm for me that relations between Humans and other species doesn't have to be a zero-sum game. The Alliance has four species as full members right now."  
  
"But aren't the aliens a minority?"  
  
"There's no majority in the Alliance, actually," Robert said. "In individual states, yes, because the Gersallians, Dorei, and Alakins each have a unified government. But population-wise, Humanity only has a plurality of the Alliance population. So the Alliance is a truly multi-species…"  
  
Robert was interrupted by the sudden sound of the ship's klaxon. Someone, likely Shepard, had the _Normandy_ going on combat alert. Without a pause Ashley began putting her rifle back together. Robert set the pistol he'd been working on back on the work table, to finish later, before activating his omnitool. He tapped the blue light controls of the holographic light over his left forearm and brought up communications. "Dale to Shepard. Is everything okay?"  
  
" _We just picked up a distress signal from the colony on Feros,_ " said Shepard. " _They're being attacked by Geth. We're on our way to give whatever help we can._ "  
  
"Right. Dale out." Without wasting a moment, Robert worked to get the pistol back in working order. The _Normandy_ might be needing it soon enough.  
  
  
  
The _Normandy_ 's arrival in the Theseus system went unnoticed on any sensors there. "Heat sinks are still showing green," said Joker. "Looks like they're clueless that we've shown up."  
  
"What do we have, Kaidan?" Shepard asked.  
  
"There aren't any Geth ships in orbit that I can see. The colony's automated distress signal is still transmitting."  
  
"Take us in," Shepard instructed. She turned to Robert and nodded once.  
  
He returned it. Together they left the cockpit area, headed for the armory.  
  
  
  
  
The _Normandy_ descended through the atmosphere, Theseus illuminating the sight of the many old Prothean skyscrapers that dotted the planet. The ship approached one of these in particular, where berths for ships had been built - or re-purposed? - to support the Feros colony.  
  
An automated signal controlled by the ship triggered the docking system to grip the _Normandy_. An airlock swiveled into place to connect to _Normandy_ 's primary upper airlock on the command deck. When the door opened Shepard stepped out, in full combat gear. Ashley Williams and Garrus followed her, Robert and Tali behind them, and Wrex and Kaidan in the rear.  
  
The attack began the moment they stepped from the walkway to the airlock onto the area around the dock. Robert was familiar with the humanoid-form Geth platforms that acted as their main troops. Their weapons fired specialized rounds that converted to plasma. The weapons fire sent everyone to cover.  
  
But just for a moment. While Ashley and Garrus provided cover fire with their assault rifles, Shepard stood up and advanced in a blast of biotic energy. The impact disabled one of the Geth platforms. Her shotgun blasted through another, sending fluid and debris flying from the impact point.  
  
Robert noticed another Geth, further down, taking aim. He reached out through the Flow of Life, willing the weapon of the Geth platform to rise. The Geth's shots missed Shepard completely. Her return fire, in turn, shattered the Geth's head, shattering the flashlight-like viewing aperture.  
  
"Wrex, Kaidan, you're on guard duty," Shepard ordered. "Nothing enters the _Normandy_ without my say-so."  
  
"Roger that," Kaidan answered. Wrex affirmed the order with a grunt.  
  
"Alright everyone, let's clear a path." With that order, Shepard continued on, shotgun raised and ready. The others followed with weapons similarly readied.  
  
The resulting firefights with the Geth were short, violent affairs, each laden with danger. One shot nearly went through Tali's personal shield in a way to ensure a likely-fatal suit puncture. Another brought Garrus' kinetic barrier to collapse. Robert himself endured several close calls, even with the foresight provided by his abilities.  
  
One by one, the units of Geth fell to their gunfire, aided by Shepard and Robert using their respective talents.   
  
They approached the entrance to the colony… and promptly took cover from the fire of the residents. Once the shooting stopped Shepard shouted, "This is Commander Shepard, Systems Alliance Navy! Hold your fire! We're here to help!"  
  
A woman's voice cried, " _Come out where we can see you!_ "  
  
Shepard immediately rose from cover, her weapon lowered, and stepped out into the sunlight. "Well?" Shepard asked expectantly.  
  
From his place in cover, Robert sensed relief in the armed woman. Relief and… fear? There was a nebulous feeling of fear around him, fear and despair.  
  
"I'm Greta Reynolds," the woman said. She lowered her assault rifle. "I'm sorry for shooting at you, but the Geth have been attacking us ever since they overran ExoGeni's HQ. We're all a little fast on the trigger."  
  
"No harm done," Shepard said.  
  
By this point the others emerged from cover. "We're here to investigate the Geth attack," Shepard explained. "Is there a way to get to ExoGeni's headquarters?"  
  
"The skyway should still be intact, but it's filled with Geth," Reynolds replied. "But before you go… would you mind helping us? Our power systems are almost drained, we're low on food, and our water supply's been shut down. We can't hold out much longer."  
  
Shepard looked back to the others. "The longer we stay here, the more time the Geth have to finish whatever they're doing and leave," Garrus pointed out.  
  
"Still, we can't just leave them without helping," Tali countered.  
  
"I agree." Ashley nodded. "It's not going to do us any good to get to the HQ if the Geth overrun our fallback position here."  
  
Shepard looked to Robert next. He remained quiet, considering the choice. As he did so, he continued to feel something odd. The fear and despair, an edge off resignation… was it just the Geth attack and the colony's plight? He wasn't sure. Given the needs of the moment, he finally nodded. "We should help them."  
  
Even as he said those words, Robert could sense Shepard had already made her decision and was awaiting the recommendations of her team to implement it. She turned her head to Greta Reynolds and nodded. "Alright, you've got some help. What do you need done?"  
  
"I'll have someone show you to the access way for the aqueducts," Greta said. "You may be able to find power supplies in our backup stocks as well."  
  
"And food?"  
  
"There are wild varren packs…"  
  
"Garrus and I will handle those." Shepard turned next to Tali. "Tali, I want you to get the water supply running, and check those stockpiles for any batteries or other supplies the colonists can use. Ashley, Robert, go with her and watch her back."  
  
"Yes ma'am," Ashley answered. Robert let her reply stand for him too.  
  
Another colonist, a Mary O'Donnell, was summoned to take them to the aqueduct system. Robert sensed the same thing in Mary as in Greta, indeed as it was in everyone here. There was a nebulous sense around him, that something was not quite right…  
  
"It must be different for you," he heard Tali saying. He realized she was speaking to him. "Not being captain of a ship anymore."  
  
"It is," he agreed.  
  
"I wonder how they're doing?" Tali asked. "I never got to speak with Tom when we were on the Citadel. Everything was happening so fast…"  
  
"I'm sure he's doing fine. They're all doing fine." Robert allowed himself a wistful smile. "If we're lucky, maybe they already know where Saren is and they're on the way to blow him to atoms."  
  
"Ha!" laughed Ashley, not hiding her amusement at the completely unlikely scenario.  
  
Robert allowed himself a chuckle in reply, but his thoughts couldn't help but wander to the issue of how the others were doing...  
  
  
  
  
Among the stars of the Artemis Tau cluster, the _Starship Aurora_ continued her voyage at relative ease. A kilometer long and over three hundred meters wide, the advanced starship represented the pinnacle of starship design for much of the Multiverse. Her four warp nacelles, arranged in a flat X centered around the drive hull, thrummed with energy. With ease they maintained the warp field that kept the ship and its two thousand crew and residents moving along at Warp 9.2.  
  
The _Aurora_ 's captain, Julia Andreys, was not watching the sight of colored streaks that was the usual visual effect of being inside a warp field. Her focus was on the display monitor for her ready office computer. Said monitor was displaying a caller, an Asari. Doctor Umari Lasana had a dark blue complexion and a fine, thin-cheeked face. Her shoulders were covered with a lavender material. " _Captain, I thank you for your patience_ ," she said in translated English. " _The University of Serrice is hosting a Multiversal conference on xenoarchaeology currently. I'm afraid we're quite busy here in Serrice._ "  
  
"I understand you have a lot to do, Doctor," Julia replied diplomatically. "Has there been any follow up on my requested information?" She kept any hint of frustration out of her voice for the weeks of effort she'd spent dealing with Asari academics and bureaucrats being troublesome over her attempts to find Doctor T'Soni. Most of those she'd dealt with seemed more worried about being associated with Benezia's daughter than her location. It took a lot of inquiry to finally track down Lasana.  
  
The Asari professor checked something off-screen. She let out a little sigh. " _Ah. Doctor T'Soni_." Her expression betrayed what Julia thought to be sadness. " _She was one of my best students. Utterly determined to become an archaeologist, in defiance to her mother Matriarch Benezia too I'll add. Her doctoral thesis on the differing natures of Prothean ruins across the galaxy was one of the best I ever read._ "  
  
"But…?"  
  
" _She became sidetracked by… well, Captain, this is delving into academic politics here on Thessia… how familiar are you with the Protheans?_ "  
  
"I know they existed fifty thousand years ago," said Julia. "And they are supposed to have built the Citadel and the Mass Relays." It took some will to keep her impatience from her voice.  
  
" _That is the generally-held belief, yes. The greatest question in the galaxy has always been 'What happened to the Protheans?' We have never found their homeworld and there have been no traces of their remains. We only know of their existence from their ruins, in fact. So there are many theories on their disappearance, ranging from a mass exodus to another galaxy to a plague that destroyed their biological remains in some fashion. One of the… less credible theories is the Reaper theory, which argues the Protheans were exterminated by an unknown force at the height of their empire._ "  
  
_Which is what the Eden Prime beacon seems to indicate._ "Much like how the Adranians were wiped out a quarter of a million years ago," Julia noted.  
  
" _I have read some of the papers from that investigation and find the theory insufficiently proven… but yes._ " Doctor Lasana nodded. " _And Doctor T'Soni has become a devoted adherent to the Reaper theory. She has argued in many of her papers for the theory's acceptance, citing evidence and observations from her dig sites._ "  
  
"But you don't agree," Julia said.  
  
" _I have to admit some of her arguments make sense, logically speaking, but the theory's greatest weakness remains. We have no sign of such an eradicating force. No ruins. No debris from battles between the Protheans and their destroyers. There is absolutely no proof that you would expect to find from a galaxy-spanning war. The theory expects us to just accept as an article of faith that these ancient destroyers cleaned up all indications of their presence and the Protheans' remains, but left their ruins intact for us to find. It's… unfathomable._ "  
  
_And yet probably true_. Julia didn't say so out loud. Instead she asked, "I've heard about Reapers being responsible. Given what happened to the Adranians…"  
  
" _They are just a legend, Captain, nothing more. And Doctor T'Soni has damaged her reputation trying to prove otherwise. That's what she's up to out there, trying to find the proof for the existence of the Reapers._ "  
  
"Do you know where she is?" Julia asked. "It's imperative I meet and speak too her."  
  
" _Hrm… I suppose she could be on Therum. The Prothean ruins there are still being explored, the ones that the miners haven't ruined anyway._ " Lasana glowered. " _It's been difficult to get approval to dig at sites from all of the hunting for heavy metals._ "  
  
"Where is Therum?"  
  
" _The Knossos System on your charts. In the Artemis Tau cluster near the Galactic rim. It is the second planet. The Systems Alliance annexed the world years ago to build mining and industrial facilities to process the heavy metals that are plentiful on the planet. It's a very important world for Human mining efforts, I'm told the planet's resources are directly supporting the expansion of industry in the Human core worlds._ " Lasana frowned again. " _Unfortunately it's made exploring the Prothean ruins on the world difficult. The mining corporations are dragging academic organizations through the Citadel courts in our efforts to protect Prothean ruin sites. They're more interested in the mineral wealth than the prospect of new discoveries. For someone looking for evidence of the Reapers like Doctor T'Soni is, the untouched ruins there can't be overlooked._ "  
  
Julia nodded in reply. "We'll investigate it immediately. Thank you."  
  
" _You are welcome. I am always pleased to ensure our friendship with other species…_ " A look came to her face. " _She's not in any trouble, is she?_ "  
  
"Maybe, maybe not. She may need our protection."  
  
" _I hope it all goes well, Captain._ " Doctor Lasana said. " _Whatever her errors of academic judgement, Doctor T'Soni is a good archaeologist, and once she gets over this flight of maiden fancy she'll be a credit to the field of Prothean researchers. I'd hate to see anything happen to her._ "  
  
"That's what I'm here to prevent," Julia said. "Thank you for your assistance, Doctor Lasana."  
  
" _You are quite welcome, Captain Andreys. Good day._ " The Asari disappeared a moment before Julia could close the line herself.  
  
Julia tapped a key. "Andreys to Bridge."  
  
" _Go ahead_ ," replied Locarno, currently sitting a bridge watch.  
  
"Change our course, we're heading for the Knossos System, Warp 9.6. We may find our subject of interest on the second planet, Therum."  
  
" _Aye Captain. We'll change course immediately._ "  
  
"I'll be out shortly. Andreys out." Julia returned her attention to the daily reports that were part of running her ship. She amused herself with the thought of how much Robert hated this part of the job. _I wonder how he's doing with the_ Normandy _crew_ , she thought even as another report came across her screen. _At least he won't be able to complain about the paperwork._  
  
  
  
  
Between fighting Geth and restoring the water lines, it was hours before the entirety of Shepard's team was assembled again. If anything the time proved that the worry about the Geth leaving before they got to the HQ was erroneous - the Geth seemed more interested in attacking Zhu's Hope. "We are very grateful for your assistance, Commander," said Fai Dan, the head of the colony. He looked completely relieved, although Robert felt lingering discomfort in him. "Thanks to you we can hold out for days should the Geth return."  
  
"It would be nice to know why the Geth are so insistent on overrunning your colony," Garrus said. "If they have ExoGeni's headquarters, what can they get from you? What does Saren want with Zhu's Hope?"  
  
"I… I'm not sure," Fai Dan said. Even as he spoke, Robert thought he felt something wrong with the man. He couldn't get a feel for what was making Fai Dan fear so much.  
  
"Maybe we'll find out when we get to the HQ," Shepard answered. "Do you have any vehicles to travel the skyway?"  
  
"Yes. One of the Mako vehicles that ExoGeni bought for security… it should be in the garage above us," Fai Dan confirmed.  
  
"Well, at least we'll be armed," Ashley observed.  
  
"Right." Shepard turned to Garrus. "Garrus, head back to the _Normandy_. If the Geth hit Zhu's Hope again, it'll be up to you, Kaiden, and Wrex to help out."  
  
"Understood."  
  
As he walked away, Shepard turned to the exit Fai Dan indicated. "Let's go." She brought her shotgun to a ready position and entered the doorway leading to the elevators. The others followed, Ashley's assault rifle up. Tali was busy monitoring things with her omnitool.  
  
As they walked away, Robert considered the feeling around him. The more he thought about it, the more he felt there was a presence of sorts in the colony. Near it, maybe. He couldn't be sure, though. Indeed he wondered if it was just the result of the foreboding feeling he got from the colonists.  
  
"Are you okay?" he heard Ashley ask. She was looking to him, her eyes visible through the visor off her combat helmet.  
  
"I'm… I think. I just feel like there's something else here. But I can't be sure."  
  
"Well, that's reassuring," Tali muttered.  
  
"Eyes sharp, people." Shepard glanced back once. "We've got other things to worry about right now."  
  
Robert nodded and kept further thoughts to himself for the moment. The Geth were the main worry right now.  
  
  
  
  
Again Julia's computer screen displayed an incoming comm call. This time, however, the image showed the familiar visage of Admiral Maran, in his office in Defense Command on the north bank of the Columbia River. Through the window behind him the skyline off 27th Century Portland was visible. " _We've finished redeployment of the Seventh Fleet to Adrana to protect Alliance space from any further Geth incursions. The Seventh's dreadnoughts have been reassigned, of course._ "  
  
Julia nodded. Not only would they still be needed at the front, but under the Treaty of Farixen with the Citadel Council races the Allied Systems were only allowed to deploy six dreadnoughts in the M4P2 Universe during local peacetime conditions. The Geth threat was unlikely to lead to the Citadel accepting a finding of wartime exemption.  
  
" _Every colony in our Alliance and the Systems Alliance is still under alert for the Geth,_ " Maran continued. " _Alliance Intelligence has been searching for Saren's base of operations in coordination with Citadel elements, particularly the Salarians' Special Tasks Group. Two of their Regiments are currently prowling the region for signs of Saren. But our leads are few. Saren was ready for this outcome._ "  
  
"Given his reputation, I'm not surprised," Julia noted. "But taking the Seventh Fleet off of the front, isn't that setting back our operations?"  
  
" _Yes. But it can't be avoided. And in the long run it is not a severe setback to our plans. The Fifteenth Fleet's activation is nearly complete and we have the ships gathered for it. While it may cause some trouble in the rear areas from our need to re-assign ships, we'll have all of the vessels we need to hit Earth in about six weeks' time._ "  
  
"I hope we have Saren by then so we can join the fleet," Julia said.  
  
" _If at all possible, I want you there, Captain. The_ Aurora _has fought the Reich often enough, and we know the SS have a particular interest in your ship. Having you join the attack on Earth will send a nice message._ " Maran looked off screen for a moment. " _Warmaster Shai'jhur is calling, and I have some issues to discuss with her. Keep me informed of your operations, Captain. Maran out._ "  
  
He disappeared from the screen. Julia checked her final bits of paperwork and prepared to finish them… just for the comm system to chime. " _Bridge to Captain Andreys_." This time Meridina was speaking. " _We are preparing to drop out of warp at Therum. Sensors are detecting a Geth ship in orbit._ "  
  
Julia stood immediately. "I'm on my way. Go to Code Red status."  
  
" _Yes Captain._ "  
  
By the time Julia reached the door to the bridge, the ship's alert klaxons were blaring.


	2. Chapter 2

On the _Aurora_ bridge the command crew were all at their stations. Jarod was at Ops, Locarno beside him at the helm. The Delgado sisters Caterina and Angela were at their respective stations, science and tactical, with Tom Barnes seated in front of Caterina at Engineering and Meridina moving over to the First Officer's chair when Julia stepped onto the bridge. The klaxons had ceased, but the ship's running lights were shifted entirely to red. Across her kilometer-long hull the two thousand crew of the ship were moving to their battle stations due to those red lights.  
  
Julia lowered herself into the central chair and secured her safety harness. "What's our status?"  
  
"Coming out of warp in ten seconds," Locarno answered.  
  
There was no need for a countdown. Julia waited the ten seconds until the ship's warp drive disengaged. The holo-viewscreen came online at Jarod's command, presenting the image of a planet with red streams of lava covering part of the otherwise reddish-brown surface. A single Geth warship was still in orbit, shaped like a wingless dragonfly. The insect like ship turned away from the planet.  
  
"I'm picking up a power surge. Their FTL drive system is activating."  
  
On the screen the Geth ship suddenly disappeared, shooting away in the blink of an eye.  
  
"Bring us into orbit," Julia ordered. "Stand down from Code Red, make our status Yellow."  
  
"Yes Captain," Meridina answered. Across the bridge everyone removed their harnesses, allowing them freer movement.  
  
"Scan the planet. We're looking for a Prothean dig site where an Asari is present. There may be more than one."  
  
Caterina immediately reacted to Julia's command. "I'm running the scan now." Cat looked over her readings. "I'm getting something in the northern hemisphere, the other side of the planet from the Human colony. An active power source is showing in what looks like an underground dig site… I can't get life sign readings though, there's an energy field interfering with the sensor returns." After double-checking something Cat turned to Julia and nodded. "And there are Geth there. A whole bunch of 'em, including a very big one."  
  
"Lieutenant, can you relay those to me?" asked Jarod.  
  
Caterina nodded at Jarod and did so. He looked over her readings and shook his head. "That energy field is going to make transporting down to the site difficult. We may need to beam down about two kilometers or so from the site."  
  
"What about landing with runabouts?"  
  
"Even with shields, the Geth have heavy weapons that might damage them, I wouldn't recommend sending any down until we've neutralized the Geth," Jarod answered.  
  
"That means fighting through all of those Geth," Julia noted. "Could we have Laurent's fighters move in first and hit them with airstrikes? Or use our light weapons for orbital bombardment?"  
  
"I wouldn't recommend it," Jarod replied. "Even with precision weaponry, they might cause damage to the entrance tunnel."  
  
"So it's the Marines after all." Julia turned to Meridina. "Tell Major Anders I want a full Marine strike team deployed, heavy units included. And let Lucy know she's joining them. Make sure they know about the atmospheric conditions and temperature."  
  
Meridina nodded. "I am relaying the order now."  
  
"And inform Commander Atreiad I want the _Koenig_ ready for launch within the hour." After Meridina nodded in acknowledgement, Julia turned her attention to Caterina. "Lieutenant, I want regular long range sensor sweeps," she said. "The Geth may be back with reinforcements, and I'm not letting them catch us by surprise."  
  
"Yes ma'am," Cat answered. "And may I join the mission to the site once it's secure? There's a lot we might learn about the Protheans down there, maybe even something relevant to whatever Saren's trying to do."  
  
Julia considered the idea, noting the concerned look on Angel's face. Still, Cat was the right person for the job, especially given the importance of the site. So she nodded. "Alright. Go put your team together, Lieutenant, and pick a runabout."  
  
"Yes ma'am," Cat replied, slipping out of her chair in favor of one of the standby officers.  
  
Julia returned to her seat and to her primary job at this point, possibly the hardest job on all the ship.  
  
Waiting.  
  
  
  
  
Only a single Geth scout patrol interrupted Shepard's team on the way to the lift, one easily dispatched. Once it was defeated the four took the lift up to the garage for Zhu's Hope. The Geth clearly had little concern for the vehicles present, most of which were unarmed civilian craft that would be death traps on the way to ExoGeni HQ. Alone among them was a M-35 Mako, a literal copy of the one still in _Normandy_ 's cargo bay.  
  
Shepard triggered the vehicle to open with her military ID code. The engine came to life within it, as did all of the control screens and surfaces inside. Right inside the door was a driver's seat flanked by a gunner's seat with controls for the turreted guns of the ATV. Robert, more by habit than desire, slipped into said seat while Shepard took the driver's seat. Ashley and Tali took seats in the rear. "Ma'am, with all due respect, maybe I should drive," Ashley said. "I got top marks on the range."  
  
"Commander's prerogative, Sergeant," Shepard answered.  
  
"Oh dear," Tali said. "It's a good thing I updated my suit's motion sickness mods since Klensal."  
  
Shepard frowned toward the Quarian as she slipped into one of the seats. Tali ignored the frown and pulled the protective harness down to hold her in the seat. Ashley took up the one across the way, giving each plenty of room given the vacant seats to each side.  
  
Robert, who hadn't gone down on the scouting mission to Klensal, glanced briefly toward Shepard. Shepard's green eyes met his and narrowed. "Not you too," she grumbled. "Perhaps you'd like to drive?"  
  
"Well, now that you mention…"  
  
Before he could finish Shepard's foot slammed on the throttle pedal. The Mako leapt forward and Robert was thrown back into his seat. The shock of the sudden movement took his breath away for a moment and kept him from finishing the sentence.  
  
Ahead the door of the garage automatically opened. The Mako was going so fast that it zipped through only a second after the garage opened high enough for the vehicle to have sufficient clearance to exit. The bright sunlight of Feros shined down on the skyway, a literal mid-air highway linking the tower where Zhu's Hope was located to another in the distance.  
  
Robert glanced over to Shepard. "You did that on purpose," he accused.  
  
"Yep," she confirmed.  
  
"And you wonder why people are worried about your driving." He eyed the edge of the skyway. Even though it was curved upward to a lip along the edge, it wouldn't take much for the Mako to go over said lip and off the edge to a long, very long, very _fatal_ plummet to the rubble-laden ground below. "Especially since we're what, a kilometer above the ground?"  
  
"Kilometer and a half, easy," she replied, her eyes still focused forward. "And you've got bigger things to worry about."  
  
Robert felt the danger even as his head turned to face it. A massive four-legged Geth platform was standing behind a line of bipedal Geth platforms. Each brought up a rocket launcher.  
  
"You're in the gunner's seat, Robert," Shepard reminded him. "Taking them out is your job."  
  
Robert looked down at the controls. "Right," he said, while gripping at the joystick that controlled the turret. He reached up and pulled the gunnery camera down to eye level, showing him a view of the enemy troops from the gun-camera mounted on the turret. With his right hand operating the control joystick, his left hand was free to control the camera, letting him zoom in and out and bring up the distance, displayed in meters counting down on the screen.  
  
"Thumb trigger is for the machine gun," Ashley said behind him. "The index trigger controls the 155 millimeter main gun."  
  
"Both mass effect?"  
  
"Yeah. Composition is good for both armor penetration or area effect."  
  
"Right."  
  
By this point the first rocket was already in the air, flying toward them so quickly Robert was sure it'd hit. But Shepard's driving was precise, swinging them just out of line of the rocket and leaving it to fly past. Robert brought the crosshairs over the center point of the four rocket-armed Geth and pulled the index trigger. The main cannon thundered. A plume of flame erupted from the midst of the Geth, blasting the two closest to it into clouds of flaming debris and sending the other two flying like rag dolls.  
  
"Main gun has a safety lock to keep it cool," Ashley added, as if just remembering the point. "You can only fire it every four or five seconds."  
  
With that in mind Robert put the crosshairs on the big four-legged Geth. His thumb pressed down. The machine gun attached to the main turret sent a spray of hyper-accelerated alloy metal, no piece larger than a grain of rice, into the big armored Geth. A kinetic barrier absorbed the shots with decreasing effectiveness.  
  
Then the Geth fired a bolt of plasma that shot down the skyway at them. Shepard turned slightly to evade, preventing a direct hit, but the plasma impacted against the rear edge of the Mako's side. There was a slight tremor in the vehicle. "Looks like the barrier held," Tali noted, watching the action from her seat.  
  
"I don't exactly have a lot of room to maneuver," Shepard warned. "Take that thing down."  
  
Robert was already releasing the thumb trigger, given the heat warning for the machine gun was near the maximum level. The main gun was ready to fire again, though, and he put the crosshairs right on the Geth's torso and squeezed the trigger. The round from the 155 gun slammed into the kinetic barrier and through it, smashing into the silver surface of the four-legged machine. Again Robert triggered the machine gun and this time watched the Geth's body spark, wounds and tears forming in its skin. He let off again when the machine gun was about to overheat.  
  
The Geth was shooting again. Shepard turned hard and braked by necessity, ensuring they didn't go over the edge. The shot flew right in front of them by less than a meter.  
  
To Robert's benefit, the turret control systems ensured the turret turned as well, sparing Robert the need to turn the turret ninety degrees to face the Geth. It was already charging up another shot at the temporarily-immobile Mako.  
  
Before it could fire, the Mako's main gun finished cooling down. Robert targeted the machine's chest and fired again. With no kinetic barrier to even slow it down, the round shot right into the heart of the Geth platform and wrecked its interior systems. The plasma charge dissipated and the flashlight eye of the Geth died out. After a couple of moments the entire Geth exploded, victim of an overload in its critically-damaged systems.  
  
"Great shooting," Ashley said. "You're a natural at this."  
  
"I have a little assistance," Robert said.  
  
"There'll be more where those came from," Shepard warned, already gently pushing the throttle and turning the Mako back into line with the tower ahead. "Keep an eye out."  
  
"Yes ma'am," Robert answered. As the Mako shot down the skyway again, he thought, _And maybe Shepard's not really that bad a driver after all. Just… very precise._  
  
He decided that it was best not to speak the thought aloud, though. Just in case.  
  
  
  
  
Lucy had been to hot planets before. Abdis, or Abydos as it was called in R4A1, had been a broiler during the day.  
  
But Therum took the cake. And, Lucy imagined bitterly, baked it too.  
  
The temperature meter on Lucy's visor HUD showed a deadly 59.8 degrees Celsius as she and the Marines around her approached the dig site. Moving on foot with light and regular power armor - or _swevyra_ power in Lucy's case - allowed the team to avoid a prepared defensive outpost the Geth had taken control of. Lucy felt hot in her armor. She hadn't bothered with the robes, which would only weigh her down and do little to help with the heat. The Gersallian armor was at least built to have cooling systems for extreme environments, combined with the standard issue helmet she used, and together it kept the internal temperature at a little over half the outside temp.  
  
Which, granted, meant it was nearly ninety degrees Fahrenheit inside her armor, and that was distinctly uncomfortable.  
  
But there were ways it could get worse, which is what happened when they arrived at the dig.  
  
The Geth were waiting for them with a defensive perimeter supported with cover. Lucy felt a sense of danger and brought her lightsaber out. It flashed to life just in time to intercept the sniper round aimed at Anders. "Snipers!"  
  
Another shot rang out. Another of the Marines, an Alakin, took a hit before he could get to cover. "My personal deflector is down to twenty percent," the Alakin said.  
  
Even as the warning came Lucy sprang into action. There was no use feeling for her foes. The Geth were not connected to the Flow of Life themselves. She couldn't sense them. But nor were they invisible to her senses. She could sense the danger they represented to her and the others. An instinctive knowledge, revealed to her through her connection to the Flow of Life, that let her know where to attack.  
  
One moment she was running over the volcanic soil. The next a shot came for her, deflected by her lightsaber, then another. She batted away the round, triggering its plasma discharge that instead went right into the flashlight head of the Geth platform that had fired the shot. While it fell its companions continued to fire.  
  
But now they fired at nothing. Lucy made a leap into mid-air just as they fired. She jumped further and faster than a normal human being could have managed and landed behind the barricade the Geth were using for cover. The nearest Geth she sliced in half with a single swing. The same motion of her lightsaber became a deflection of another Geth's fire, sending the bolt of plasma intended for her into the hip joint of the third. Lucy reached out with her hand and through the Flow of Life to grip the damaged Geth. She threw it into its compatriot and sent both into a nearby rock formation.  
  
That was when she felt another sniper shot being prepared. She brought her weapon up and caught the shot sent her way, sending it off into the rock wall across the pathway. She swung again to stop another shot. Looking up she could see the towers from which the snipers were shooting, towers beyond easy attack range for her. Especially with the other Geth in close range and still threats.  
  
Then there were streaks of flame in the air; missiles, fired from the Marines in their armor suits, now crashing into those towers and engulfing the shooters' nests with flame and pressure. A flaming Geth platform flew from one due to a slightly off-angle hit. The other Geth were not seen, presumably blown apart from the closer direct hits.  
  
Even the two Geth platforms she'd been fighting were eliminated before she could finish them herself. She tracked the fire to Anders and a squad of Marines advancing quickly on her position. The other Marines were behind them, either moving ahead or in cover returning fire from those Geth platforms not yet taken out. "Excellent work, Lieutenant," Anders said, a hint of sardonic amusement in his voice. "Charging ahead without orders and being able to survive is a hell of perk, isn't it?"  
  
"It looks like you've made good use of it," Lucy countered, attempting an equal tone and not quite avoiding irritation. With no imminent danger the heat inside her suit was reminding her of how damned unpleasant this planet was. _Why couldn't the Protheans have built their ruins on a cooler world?... and now we'll end up going to an arctic world at some point since I'm asking_.  
  
"Well, you disrupted their entire defensive formation, I'll give you that. And got the attention of their snipers." Anders chuckled to himself. "I'd bring up what I was actually about to do, but we should move on ahead." He gestured to where the other squads had already moved on to the rise beyond them. "The ruin entrance is just ahead of us."  
  
"Lead the way," Lucy answered.  
  
With Anders' squad trailing, they advanced on to link up with the advancing Marines. The Geth platforms clearly weren't experienced in dealing with retreats. Lucy sensed the elation of Anders' Marines at their successful advance.  
  
Then there was apprehension. Shortly thereafter Lucy saw the bright burst of white-blue light ahead and a cry of pain and knew there was trouble.  
  
The trouble wasn't from the agile Geth platforms slinking along the sides of the structures at the dig sites. The Marines were putting them down. It was the other Geth threat, the biggest one. A colossal four-legged Geth platform that looked like a cross between a metal turtle and a giraffe with its longer neck connecting the body to the big flashlight head. A plasma projector was already nearly done charging when it came into view, aimed at a squad of Marines, one of which was badly wounded. They were behind some cover, but the cover was flimsy and wouldn't absorb the entire plasma blast.  
  
"Go go go!" Anders shouted at her, knowing his own teams weren't in position to properly engage before the Geth could land a fatal hit on his people.  
  
His permission hadn't been necessary, but it was appreciated. Cursing the heat of the whole damned planet, Lucy reached for the warm power inside of her and felt it fill her body. Her muscles started moving faster, without strain, aided by the energy of life pulsing within her courtesy of the Flow of Life. Again her lightsaber flashed into existence. Not to deflect a shot, though. Even without the instinctive clairvoyance of the Flow of Life she knew, immediately, that the plasma discharge from the big Geth was simply too big for even a lightsaber to adequately deflect. If she could get to them before the shot, maybe her raw powerful could deflect it...  
  
In the time it was taking her to close the range she looked about her surroundings, trying to figure out if she had an alternative. Her eyes settled on a sheet of metal. Given its shaping and structure, she figured it was heat shielding, and with the time left she had to hope it was. She raised her arm and extended her free hand, using it as a focus for the power flowing through her. Invisible force gripped the sheet and tossed it into the air.  
  
The Geth fired. The orb of deadly plasma raced toward the stricken Marine and his compatriots.  
  
The sheet got there first.  
  
The orb splattered over its surface, crackling like lightning. But it could not get around the sheet.  
  
Lucy turned her attention to the Geth war machine itself. With its main weapon she didn't want it blasting everything, given it could damage the tube leading to the underground dig site. She'd have to give it a target.  
  
Namely, her.  
  
So she ran toward it over the open. Her lightsaber swung to deflect incoming shots from the other Geth platforms. A couple shots were angled to go right back toward the Geth, one even hitting a Geth right in the flashlight head, while the rest sprayed everywhere. Behind her more Marines were moving into a firing position. This was good; it let her focus on the main target.  
  
The big Geth's head tracked her. It's four feet shuffled, shifting it around to meet her as she came in. Energy surged near its head until another orb of lethal plasma was coming toward her. With a mere second to react Lucy dove and rolled under the shot. The blue blade of her weapon flashed in the air again, catching more of the fire from the smaller platforms, while her legs kept going.  
  
It was going to be close. The Geth heavy platform was charging another shot, and she wasn't sure she'd get to it in time. Indeed, as it became brighter, a brief thought came to her head, that she'd miscalculated, that it was going to fire just before she got too close for it to hit her…  
  
That was when a missile slammed into the flashlight head. The Geth's neck flailed wildly after the impact, the light broken, the machine blind.  
  
Behind her, and in her helmet, Ander's voice cried out, "You're clear, Lieutenant!"  
  
And so she was. As Lucy moved toward the Geth machine she brought her lightsaber up. It was well-constructed and gave resistance to the weapon, so the leg was unsevered by Lucy's cut, merely damaged. She twirled about and cut through it again, aimed at a weaker point in the armor around the joint. This time the blade cut cleanly through. The leg fell to the side. A confused, angry electronic warble came to the air, as if the Geth was crying out in pain.  
  
As the Geth machine teetered, trying and failing to keep balance with just three legs, Lucy cut its other fore leg out from under it. Now it pitched forward and fell to the ground, Lucy getting out from under it before it could crush her. Her lightsaber lashed out again, carving an angry red wound into its side. Fluid from severed hydraulic lines spilled and steamed where it struck the melting point-hot metal skin around the wound.  
  
And yet the Geth creature wasn't dead, simply wounded. Its head flailed. Plasma was still building up in its firing chamber, now targeting Anders and some of his Marines. They took cover in the moments before it fired, utilizing the misshapen stack of sheet metal Lucy had previously employed, which allowed them to survive the orb of plasma that came for them.  
  
"Lieutenant, get clear!" Anders called out. "Marines, switch to anti-armor munitions!"  
  
Moments later another pair of missiles from the power armored-Marines hit the front of the Geth machine. They penetrated toward the heart of it, blowing out large chunks of debris and fluid through two gaping wounds caused by the jets of super-heated plasma created by the anti-armor warheads. Lucy was already running for one of the last group of singular Geth platforms when the second salvo hit. More of the torso was blown out.  
  
By the time Lucy was cleaving through the last Geth platform, another salvo had hit. This time, the Geth war machine was blown to pieces.  
  
"Good job Marines. And Lady Knight." There was some bemusement in Anders' voice at referencing Lucy like that. "Sanders, Sanger, secure the perimeter. Khraa, Kutalaran, set up sniper nests and heavy weapon firing stations. If the Geth come back, I want them to find us ready for war. Step to it Marines!"  
  
" _Sir yes sir!_ " was the collective reply.  
  
Anders wasn't finished, however. " _Aurora_ , this is Major Anders," he continued, now on open comms to the ship. "Site is secure. I repeat, site is secure. Send in the science team, and we'll need medbay ready for one casualty."  
  
" _Good job Major_ ," Julia said. " _The_ St. Johns _and_ Warri _are en route. Tell your Marines that Hargert will have a meal waiting for them when they get back._ "  
  
"Let him know it's appreciated, ma'am."  
  
  
  
  
The _St. Johns_ was lifting off with Doctor Walker already tending to the injured Marine inside. On the _Warri_ , the rear module was full of specialized gear being packed up by the mixed team of science, operations, and engineering officers, some taking up the available seats.  
  
Caterina took in a breath and observed her team - as chief science officer she was in command of these officers - while Tra'dur checked her helmet's seals for her. The field action uniform was the same she'd worn on Tira during the fight, with the attached helmet, gloves, and boots that made it an environmentally-sealed suit for her to survive the hellish volcanic temperature of Therum. "Seal checks are good," said the Dilgar woman. Her helmet was already in place on her own action uniform.  
  
"Thanks." Cat turned to the other members of the team. Barnes was finishing suiting up with the helm of Ensign Tulari, a purple-complexioned, teal-spotted Dorei woman and one of the junior engineering officers. The last pair of officers were Lieutenant (J.G.) Theek, a male Alakin science officer with geologist specialty, and Ensign Talara, the Falaen/Altean helm officer who had some training for field operation support.  
  
"So, sixty fraking degrees Celsius out there," Barnes grumbled. "And people actually live on this place. Why not just use mining drones?"  
  
"Well, the kind of VI automation you're thinking of isn't common in this universe, at least not pre-Multiversal Contact," Cat reminded him. "Plus they might not have been able to afford it."  
  
"Bah." Barnes sighed and reached down for his pack, carrying a collection of sensor gear and emergency survival gear. "Aren't we just here for some Asari babe? Why are we hauling this stuff?"  
  
Cat gave him a sour look. "Because it's a _Prothean_ ruin, Tom, er, Lieutenant. And our secondary mission is to see if there's anything of interest here about what destroyed the Protheans. Given what Commander Shepard saw from the beacon, and what Meridina was shown by that intelligence on Adrana… well, we need proof of the Reapers to get people to take it seriously."  
  
Barnes grumbled something inarticulate before heading for the door.  
  
Cat turned slightly and noticed the frown on Tra'dur's face. Her English had a faint Anglo-Indian accent when she asked, "How can someone that undisciplined be an officer?"  
  
"It's his way of coping with discomfort," Caterina explained. "Once an engineering problem presents itself, that's when he shines."  
  
"I see. Your people… they give allowances in exchange for merit."  
  
"Some do." Caterina could remember, darkly, how nasty Admiral Davies and others like him could be around her and her friends. "Others, not so much."  
  
Tra'dur put on her own pack. It had other science gear, as well as its own survival gear. "This is why Captain Andreys puts so much effort into maintaining formality, then."  
  
"Yeah." Cat lifted her own, with some effort. There was a visible grimace on her face.  
  
"The fate of the Protheans _is_ an interesting question." This was from Ensign Talara, who stepped up to join them. "I've read some papers in my spare time since we began the mission. Although most of them dismiss the idea of an outside force destroying them."  
  
"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence," Caterina said. "I mean, yes, without evidence you can't logically prove something, but it just means something is unproven. Disproving it would require confirmation that the Protheans' fate didn't involve the Reapers or whatever they are…"  
  
They departed the _Warri_ by the side airlock. Cat took in the sight of the battle, including the ruined carapace of what had been a big Geth combat platform. Anders approached with Lucy. "There aren't any more Geth on the surface," he confirmed. "My squads just took out the last stragglers, and Commander Laurent's pilots removed the Geth at the nearby checkpoint. But there's no guarantee that there aren't more inside. Combat sensors are showing too much interference."  
  
"So we'll need you to cover us," Cat said. She tapped her sidearm holster, where a pulse pistol was secured. "We're armed too."  
  
"Good, but if things go right you won't be using those. I'm leaving Lieutenant Sanger up here with a rear guard, but I'm taking a couple of squads with me to be your vanguard."  
  
"And me, of course." Lucy smiled inside of her helmet. "To help both of you as necessary."  
  
"Right. We'll follow you, Major," Caterina said.  
  
Anders nodded and started gathering his squad. The other officers huddled around Cat, with Lucy joining them. "It'd be nice if Doctor T'Soni and whoever else is running the dig site has a climate-controlled atmosphere down there," Lucy said. "I'm sweating enough out here."  
  
"I know. My fur already feels damp," Tra'dur complained.  
  
"There are worse," Cat remarked idly. "The Doctor took me to this volcanic planet where the atmosphere could set you on fire if you stepped outside the atmospheric forcefields."  
  
"A terrible way to die," Talara, observed.  
  
"Yeah, it was," Cat answered, her voice a little hollow, more than enough to let the others know she'd observed it firsthand. Ahead of them, Anders and his Marines were already approaching the entrance to the dig site. "Well, let's go find Doctor T'Soni and see if there's any cool Prothean stuff here."  
  
"Right behind you," Lucy assured her.  
  
  
  
  
The flaming ruins of another four-legged Geth war machine burned as the Mako roared by. Robert returned the turret to its default forward-facing position. A quick check of ammunition levels showed that they still had another two hours worth of combat ammunition in the block, minimum. This was the great advantage of mass effect field-based firearms; whatever they lost in punch or versatility compared to directed energy weapons like phasers or Darglan-tech pulse guns, they made up for it with sheer firing capacity.  
  
"No more Geth on sensors," Robert said. "No indications of jamming either."  
  
"Right." Shepard kept her eyes on the skyway road. Ahead the entrance to another tower loomed. "Tali, what's our status? Any damage?"  
  
"Nothing severe," Tali said, hunched over the access hatch to the Mako's engine and critical systems. "The kinetic barrier is at half strength and improving. Although it looks like you took some splash damage to the middle axle. Give me a few minutes and I can repair it."  
  
"That might not…"  
  
Shepard stopped speaking when a voice crackled over the open radio lines. ".... _that engine noise? They're getting closer…_ " She glanced to Robert as they pulled up to a ramp leading further up the tower, beside another ramp that was partially blocked and leading downward.  
  
Instead of checking sensors, Robert felt out through the Flow of Life. With so much of the planet dead, the Flow was weak here, anemic. That made the handful of living beings near them all the easier to sense. "A half dozen or more," he said. "Very close." He eyed the downward ramp. "That way."  
  
"Tali, looks like you're getting the time to fix that axle," Shepard said. "Ashley, Robert, with me." She pulled the Mako up beside the downward ramp and secured it.  
  
"It'll be done when you get back, Shepard," Tali promised as the three stepped out of the Mako.  
  
Shepard took the lead, as always, leading the two around the Mako and down the ramp. As they approached one of the barriers a gunshot rang out. Robert reached a hand toward his holster, the other up and ready to help him focus power if he needed it for defense.  
  
"Not Geth," Ashley observed. "Sounds like a Predator pistol."  
  
Shepard nodded. "Whoever's there, this is Commander Shepard of the Systems Alliance, we're here to help!"  
  
"Oh thank God," a voice cried out from below, that of an older woman. "Would you idiots put those guns away?!"  
  
When there was no gunfire for several more seconds, Shepard finished leading them down the ramp. At the bottom was a makeshift camp where several people, all Human, were spread about. Two were in combat armor, flanking a man of mostly East Asian ancestry. "Are you in charge?" Shepard asked him.  
  
"Ethan Jeong of ExoGeni Corporation," he replied. "I'm the administrator here." He frowned at another figure, an older woman.  
  
"You're the one who cried out to stop firing?" Robert asked her.  
  
She nodded. "My name is Juliana Baynham. And thank God you've come. Maybe you can save my…"  
  
"Your daughter's probably dead, Juliana," Jeong said, his voice loud and irritated. "Right now the important thing is we may have a ride out of here."  
  
"Aren't you the optimistic type?" Ashley gave him a disapproving look.  
  
"I'm here investigating the Geth attack," Shepard said to them. "In fact, we're on our way to your HQ tower to see what the Geth are doing there. Is there anything you can share with me?"  
  
"I'm afraid nothing of value," Jeong answered. "ExoGeni's purpose here is to research any remaining Prothean technology recovered. But we've had very little success with substantial new finds. Frankly the colony is costing my company money. I'm not sure what the invaders want."  
  
Robert felt a prickle at the back of his head. An instinctive sense within him of deception. He kept any look of surprise off his face, saying nothing as Shepard continued to ask Jeong more about what ExoGeni was up to.  
  
The gray-haired woman approached him. "Please, if you're going to the HQ, find my little girl. Find Liz." Robert sensed the very real worry and terror in the woman, suffering from one of the most primal fears many sapient beings could ever know: being a parent with a missing child. "Even if she's dead, I…"  
  
"You have to know," he said. Robert nodded and tried a comforting smile. "I know what you mean, Miss… Baynham, right?"  
  
"Yes. Juliana Baynham. My daughter is…"  
  
"Elisabeth?"  
  
"Yes. An excellent guess."  
  
He nodded. In truth, it hadn't been just a guess, of course. "When we get there, I'll do what I can."  
  
"We all will, ma'am," Ashley assured her. "Family is important."  
  
To that, Robert nodded in heartfelt agreement.  
  
  
  
  
When the three returned to the Mako, Tali met them at the door. "Everything is fine," she said. "I even realigned the axles. Whoever does the mechanic work here is horrible."  
  
"Excellent work, Tali." Shepard returned to the driver's seat. Robert, again, took up the seat beside her, leaving Ashley and Tali to their prior seats. Shepard glanced over at Robert. "So, how much was Jeong telling the truth about?"  
  
"Not hard to guess he was covering something up, huh?" Ashley asked.  
  
"He was certainly lying when he said he didn't know why the Geth were here, and that there's nothing here of value worth an attack," Robert replied. "He's a decent liar, but I still felt the deception."  
  
"He's a corporate type, who knows what kind of skeevy work he's trying to cover up?"  
  
"I don't know." Robert shook his head. "I sensed something back in Zhu's Hope. Something… off. There's more to this colony than we're seeing."  
  
"But what would Saren be interested in here?" Tali asked. "Could there be another Prothean beacon, like on Eden Prime?"  
  
"It's possible, but I doubt it," replied Shepard. "Covering that up couldn't be done forever, and ExoGeni would get hit by so many sanctions and charges by the Citadel Council and Systems Alliance that it would ruin their business. No, this has got to be something else." She put the Mako into drive. "Now let's go find out what it is."  
  
Robert braced himself this time, saying nothing as Shepard sent the Mako rocketing up the the next ramp.


	3. Chapter 3

A literal tube sticking out of the ground was the entry to the Therum dig site. The Marines went in first, led by Major Anders, and the science team followed. Lucy led them down to the end of the tube, where a door was closed with a green light beside it. She waved her left hand over the light and her omnitool automatically triggered the door to open. It led to a lift, a large one made for carrying machinery and supplies as well. All seven of them easily fit into the lift. Once the door closed Lucy ran her hand over a control on the far side. The entire lift shuddered slightly before it began to descend.  
  
The descent was quiet. Lucy looked over everyone. Cat, Tra'dur, Barnes, and Theek were going through gear. Tulari was by herself running her sensors. And Talara…  
  
...the Falaen woman was standing to one corner alone, but not going over gear or her omnitool. Lucy felt her anxiety and concern, so she approached her. "Are you okay?"  
  
Talara turned and faced her. Her blue eyes, over blue half-moon marks, also had lavender-colored irises, a marked difference from the eyes of many other intelligent species. "I am.. I am fine," she said.  
  
"I sense otherwise."  
  
"Right." Talara sighed and shook her head. "It's just… I feel this sense of imminent danger. Like our lives are about to be threatened."  
  
To that Lucy nodded. "I see." She allowed herself a confident smile. "I feel the same."  
  
"You don't seem worried about it."  
  
"I've nearly died several times today, Ensign. I'm used to the feeling of danger."  
  
"Ensign Talara." The new voice prompted them to turn and face Tra'dur. "I haven't had the chance yet to speak with you."  
  
"You're Beta Shift, Lieutenant. I am Gamma."  
  
"Yes. And I've often been busy with my orientation studies of the _Aurora_ , so let me take this chance to say hello. I am very interested in the history of your people, as the Falaens' past is relevant to my species' current situation."  
  
"As in, being the survivors of a near-extinction," said Talara.  
  
"Indeed. And your species recovered from an even smaller surviving population than my own. Only fifty thousand, correct?"  
  
"Yes. Just enough population to sustain sufficient genetic diversity."  
  
"Then we Dilgar should feel fortunate." Tra'dur shook her head. "Although it is hard to say that for either of us given what had to be endured. But allow me to say that I consider the Falaen people to be an inspiration, a model that we Dilgar can aspire to…"  
  
The lift shuddered again, coming to a stop and interrupting Tra'dur. The door slid open. Immediately the sounds of weapons fire came to them. " _Stay back_ ," Anders warned over the radio. " _We've got a Geth squad holding the pathway. Give us a few minutes to clear them out._ "  
  
"Please be careful," Cat urged. "I mean, if you throw around grenades or explosives, you could damage the cavern, or the walkway, or the site itself. We…"  
  
" _We're being careful, Lieutenant. Don't worry. Lieutenant Lucero, please remain with them for the moment, we've…_ " Anders stopped. A loud shot could be heard. "... _we've got this under control. We'll let you know when we can move ahead._ "  
  
"Let me know if you need anything. In the meantime…" Lucy, recognizing the readings on her helmet, released the faceplate and allowed it to slide open. Cool, climate-controlled air rushed in and struck her sweat-coated face. "...I'm just enjoying being out of that volcanic sauna above us."  
  
Caterina let out an amused giggle in reply.  
  
  
  
  
After another gauntlet of Geth rocket troopers and quadruped war machines, the Mako rumbled to a stop inside the tower serving as ExoGeni's HQ. The four piled out and Shepard secured the Mako.  
  
Robert felt the life nearby immediately. It didn't come toward them, not like he expected it to do. "There's someone here, but they're acting shy. Afraid."  
  
"Liz Baynham?" Ashley asked.  
  
"Probably," Robert answered.  
  
Shepard drew her shotgun from its holster at the base of her back. "We'll get to her if we can. Let's move out."  
  
With weapons readied the four approached the entrance to ExoGeni. Upon sight of the blue energy barrier over the opening Tali ran a scan. "A Geth particle barrier. Given the power I wouldn't be surprised if it's being powered by a dropship, probably attached to the building."  
  
"So we're not going through this way," Ashley said.  
  
"I'm sure Jarod and Cat and Scotty could come up with something, but they're not here," Robert mused. He sensed out and felt a slight pull to their right. "This way. I think we can find a way under the barrier."  
  
The team went in the direction he indicated. They came out into a large chamber full of dead varren. Robert immediately recognized the wounds; gunshots. He noticed Shepard steeling herself. She didn't need his senses to know an ambush could come at any moment.  
  
He knew there was no 'could' about it. He felt the terrified intent. The gun come up, shaking in a pair of hands. The tension between fear, the need to survive, and the ingrained discomfort of a thinking being preparing to kill another.  
  
Robert turned and reached out through the Flow of Life. A gunshot went off, going over their heads, accompanied with a shout of surprise and terror as the weapon in those shaking hands was wrenched upward by invisible force. A moment later he felt the weapon pull free. The stunned cry was joined by the thump of a falling body, then another…  
  
...and a woman came rolling down from above them, following the inclined side of the Prothean-built chamber. Dust billowed from where she finally made an impact, graying her white jumpsuit, an ExoGeni patch on one arm. Nearby a pistol, one of the curved Phalanx models, clattered to the ground.  
  
Ashley, ever ready to fight, brought her assault rifle up toward the woman. Her blue eyes widened in terror. " _Please don't kill me!_ " the woman shrieked. " _Oh God! Please don't!_ "  
  
"She's not a threat," Robert said, holding his pulse pistol to the ground. "She's just terrified."  
  
Shepard nodded to Ashley, who lowered her rifle. Turning her attention to the young woman, Shepard said, "Elisabeth Baynham, right?"  
  
There was no reduction to her fear. "I… I can help you. Please don't kill me. I'll keep my mouth shut, I won't talk about…"  
  
She stopped herself at that point, sensing their confusion, but Robert felt the word she was about to speak. "What's the 'Thorian'?" he asked.  
  
"Oh God, you're one of them," Baynham gasped. "You're one of those telepaths from the other universes. Jeong actually hired…"  
  
"We're not working for Jeong," Shepard insisted. "I'm Commander Shepard, Systems Alliance Navy and Council Spectre. We're here investigating the Geth attack on Feros."  
  
Disbelief and hope warred inside of Liz Baynham. Robert knelt down beside her and offered a hand. "Here," he said, bringing a friendly grin to his face. "Let me help you up."  
  
Wordlessly Liz did so. She stared in bewilderment at him and then at Shepard. "I… I didn't know the Systems Alliance had telepaths now."  
  
"We don't," Shepard replied. "Captain Dale here is a Paladin agent from the United Systems. We're working together against the Geth."  
  
"I'm a metaphysical life energy wielder, like Gersallian Life Force Knights," Robert explained. "I don't read minds directly so much as I can sense the essence of your thoughts and feelings through my abilities. You don't need to be afraid. Whatever the Thorian is, it's not why we're here."  
  
"It should be," Liz replied. "I… I was trying to get through to Colonial Affairs back at Arcturus. It's why I was left behind. But the Geth cut the power before I could establish a connection."  
  
"What is it the Geth want?" asked Shepard.  
  
"The same thing I'm talking about," Liz said. "They're here for the Thorian. To kill it. I don't know why."  
  
"Okay, I'm confused," Tali admitted. "Why would Saren want to kill… whatever it is?"  
  
"I don't know. I don't know who this 'Saren' is." Liz shook her head. "But I know the Geth will have to kill everyone in Zhu's Hope to get at the Thorian. They won't be able to flee, it won't let them."  
  
"Maybe you should start at the beginning," said Shepard. "What is this Thorian?"  
  
"It's some kind of ancient life form we found, a living plant of sorts. From the samples we've seen, it's been here for tens of thousands of years, at least. It may have predated the Protheans."  
  
Robert immediately mused to himself that it would explain why Saren's Geth were here. This creature could have witnessed the Reapers exterminating the Protheans. But he didn't say so out loud to avoid distracting Liz Baynham.  
  
Liz was continuing to explain. "I was assigned as a researcher for ExoGeni's examination of the Thorian. But it's all gone wrong… it's why I was trying to reach Colonial Affairs. Jeong's been keeping me away from offworld communication. He's basically kept me a prisoner, put me on probationary status..."  
  
"Why?" Shepard asked.  
  
"Because I opposed the project," Liz answered. "The Thorian gives off spores that let it take control of other life forms. It's how it protects itself. Jeong and ExoGeni… they wanted to test the spores, see how they interacted with other beings. So they used them on the colonists. ExoGeni turned the population of Zhu's Hope into _test subjects_."  
  
Guilt was radiating from Liz Baynham. Robert felt horror and anger in the others. It matched his own. So much of the sense of fear and despair he'd felt in the colonists now made horrifying sense. "That's why things felt so off back at the Colony," Robert said to them. "I was sensing the Thorian and its control over the colonists. Their despair at having no control over themselves."  
  
"Those bastards," Ashley swore. "We should go back and put a bullet in that lying son of a…"  
  
"First things first, Sergeant," Shepard said, firmly. "I want proof of this."  
  
"And we have to finish fighting off the Geth first," Tali pointed out. "We can't fight this thing and the Geth at the same time."  
  
"I'm more interested in why the Geth want the Thorian dead. We need to see what they're doing in the HQ and neutralize them."  
  
"There's a way under the barrier," Liz said. "I'll show you to it." She reached for her pocket and pulled out a piece of plastic that Robert quickly recognized as an ID card. "The system will think you're me. You can get all of the information I have access to from one of the VI terminals."  
  
Shepard accepted thec ard. "Thank you. Alright everyone." Shepard gestured forward. "Let's go shoot some more Geth."  
  
  
  
  
With the last Geth cleared out, the science team moved ahead to join with the Marines. With two Marines left behind the group took a couple of lift rides to head down to the next level. The science team was coming second and were together when the tower appeared.  
  
"It's definitely Prothean make," Caterina observed. "And the source of the power signature."  
  
"Including a particle barrier." Tra'dur checked her omnitool. "Someone must have activated the Prothean technology. Why?"  
  
"I can think of a few reasons," Barnes said.  
  
The lift came to a stop. Lucy and Anders were waiting at the bottom. "We're holding here for the moment," Anders explained. "Lucero and I will move ahead with you in case there are more Geth."  
  
"Good. The less we disturb the site, the better," Caterina said.  
  
They approached the tower via the catwalk. The particle barrier forbade entry at this level, but there was another lift to their left. Anders called for some of his Marines to come up and join them, leaving behind a rear-guard of four to watch the first lift. He briefly frowned as Cat and the others piled in. "You should let us go first."  
  
"There's no Geth on sensors," Cat replied. "We'll be fine for the few minutes before we get down there. Besides, Lucy can jump down and join us."  
  
Lucy gave Cat an accusing look. "You've been dying to see me do 'super-jumps', haven't you?"  
  
"Yep." Flashing a grin at Lucy, Cat hit the control. The lift gate closed and the lift descended downward.  
  
Lucy sighed and readied herself to make the jump.  
  
Once the lift reached the bottom Cat frowned. "This says there's another level.  
  
"It's blocked below here," said Tra'dur. She'd stepped out and turned to check below the lift. "Someone placed a container below the left." The Dilgar glanced to her right, toward the tower. "Wait, did you hear that?"  
  
"Hear what?"  
  
"I think someone's calling out," said Talara. "This way!"  
  
As they emerged from the lift, there was a loud thud and an expanding cloud of light dust. Lucy looked up from where she'd jumped and asked, "Happy?" Seeing the others ignoring her, she felt out with her senses and realized why.  
  
Near the tower, the catwalk had been broken as well, leaning down to the lower level. Tra'dur jumped down first, in a very fitting, feline way for the Dilgar woman, and Talara and Cat were next. Lucy got there just as Barnes finally worked up the nerve to join them, already knowing what they would find.  
  
"Thank the Goddess," a female voice said. "I was afraid I was losing my mind."  
  
On the other end of the particle barrier on this level was an Asari in a green and white working jumpsuit. Her complexion was sky blue, with sapphire-blue eyes that looked at them pleadingly. She was hovering in mid-air, trapped in a bubble of energy.  
  
"Uh… Doctor T'Soni, I presume?" Cat asked.  
  
Barnes chuckled lightly at that.  
  
"Yes," the Asari said, her tone betraying a surge of relief. "I am Doctor Liara T'Soni." She looked them over. "You're with the United Systems, aren't you?"  
  
"Lieutenant Caterina Delgado, Science Officer of the _Starship Aurora_ ," Cat replied. "These are my friends and subordinates. You're safe with us. You can lower the particle barrier now."  
  
"I would like to, but I'm afraid I can't access it from here," Liara said. "I can't get out of the bubble. I'm not even sure how it came on, I was just trying to activate the barrier."  
  
"Perhaps it was a security measure," Tra'dur suggested. "The technology was looking for Prothean biosigns or an approved biometric signature, and Doctor T'Soni is seen as an unauthorized user."  
  
"Well, we need to find a way to disrupt the particle barrier," Cat said.  
  
"Or see if the system didn't bother covering sections buried under the rock," Lucy added. "If the programming is sophisticated enough it may adopt power-saving methods like that."  
  
"Well, how can we dig down quickly enough?" asked Talara.  
  
"Given the rock type…" Lieutenant Theek checked his omnitool. "We're going to need heavier equipment."  
  
"Yeah. I'm thinking a laser drill," Barnes agreed.  
  
"Exactly, sir. Of course, it will take some effort to assemble…" Theek glanced toward Barnes in time to notice his grin.  
  
"Not as much as you think, Lieutenant Theek," Barnes said, grinning widely.  
  
The others saw the grin and followed Barnes' eyes… to the laser drill left by the vacant excavation team. He immediately ran up to it and began examining the machine.  
  
"Lucero to Anders," Lucy said into her omnitool. "Standby up there. We're going to be firing a laser drill shortly."  
  
" _Understood. Be advised that the_ Aurora _just sent us an update. We're expecting unwelcome company_."  
  
"That does not sound like a good thing," Liara observed.  
  
"It usually isn't," Cat sighed. "More Geth?"  
  
" _That's the way it sounds. I'll take my team up and cover the door. Keep me informed._ "  
  
After the call to Anders finished, Barnes called out, "Yo, Lucy, science geeks, this thing isn't going to fix itself!"  
  
"Uh, stay right…" Cat stopped that thought before she said something silly. "...hold tight, Doctor, we'll be right back."  
  
"I have nothing better to do," she answered, in a way Cat thought was more a desperate stab at humor in her situation than something meant nastily.  
  
  
  
The moment the Geth ships dropped out of FTL, the _Aurora_ and _Koenig_ opened fire. It was a first strike made necessary by the numbers of Geth ships, with several of their wingless dragonfly-like cruisers backed by waves of smaller craft.  
  
Meridina looked up from her console as the ship shuddered. "All fighter squadrons launching."  
  
"Laurent can task the squadrons as he sees necessary," Julia replied. "What's our status?"  
  
"Five of the Geth cruisers and ten smaller ships," Jarod replied. The ship shook again. "They're firing mass effect-propelled mass drivers and more of the plasma weapons. Shields still holding at eighty-nine percent."  
  
"Return fire. Tactical, focus fire on their cruisers. Helm, keep us in orbit, don't let them past us."  
  
Both Angel and Locarno affirmed their orders. The _Aurora_ 's main weapons began firing in retort of the Geth. A Geth cruiser to their bow endured, with little success, the hammer blows of the _Aurora_ 's powerful pulse plasma cannons. The Darglan-designed weapons, based as they were on the technology of R4A1's powerful Asgard species, blasted great melting chunks out of the Geth ship. Beams, from the plasma cannons and emitters of similar origin to the pulse cannons, lashed at the particle barrier fields of the Geth ships. The heaviest of these weapons also managed localized penetration of the particle fields, allowing them to carve deep wounds into the Geth cruisers.  
  
While the _Aurora_ engaged the larger ships, the _Koenig_ went after the lighter. Under Will Atreiad's leadership, with Apley at the helm, the _Koenig_ dodged and weaved around the Geth fire, drawing their attention so that Laurent's fighters got clear attack runs on these lighter vessels while other fighters engaged their Geth counterparts.  
  
On the _Koenig_ bridge everything shuddered. "Geth attackers to stern," Magda said. "Shields down to eighty-four percent."  
  
"Helm, Attack Plan Charlie Sierra… execute!"  
  
At Atreiad's command Apley pulled the _Koenig_ into a tight maneuver, moving "upward" and flipping the ship in what, within atmosphere, would resemble a "Cobra maneuver". The Geth ships maneuvered away while _Koenig_ continued the flip until her forward weapons were brought to bear. Pulses of amber energy shot through the orbital space of Therum and found their target, ripping the guts from one of the Geth vessels.  
  
"The other ship is breaking off… wait." Magda checked her sensor board. "I've got another ship trying to slip past us. I think it's trying to get into low orbit, probably to launch dropships."  
  
"Bring us about. Fire when ready, April."  
  
At the tactical station, Lt. April Sherlily was already working her controls. The moment her systems showed a target lock thanks to Apley's maneuver, she opened fire with the phasers and a solar torpedo. The phasers did their job, blasting away the Geth ship's protective particle barrier so that the solar torpedo could hit bare hull. The naqia warhead within initiated and blew the Geth vessel apart.  
  
With nothing but remnant radiation showing on her sensors, Magda turned her attention to other targets. The _Koenig_ moved away from her wrecked foe.  
  
Given the amount of energy being tossed around in orbit, those monitoring sensors or the same electronic instruments could not be blamed for missing the slight signature of the Geth dropship that emerged from the broken hull, damaged but intact, to descend upon the dig site below.  
  
  
  
  
The ExoGeni headquarters, like much of Feros, was repurposed from whatever the Protheans had built it for. Crumbling rubble still marred the interior, either from the ancient age of the structure or the Geth takeover. Shepard moved ahead with care, Robert and Tali behind, and Ashley in the rear.  
  
They found a set of stairs leading upward. From above a voice could be heard. " _Access denied._ "  
  
"Lousy machine", grumbled a deep voice. Hearing it, Shepard motioned to the others to be ready for a fight. "Give me the damn files!"  
  
" _Please contact your supervisor for a security exception._ "  
  
By this point they arrived at the top of the stairs. Down the corridor a Krogan was standing in front of a holographic avatar. "If you don't give me the damn files, I'll blow your holographic ass into actual dust!  
  
" _Access denied. Please speak to your supervisor for a security exception, and remember company policy regarding the use of profanity while on duty._ "  
  
They drew closer, as quietly as they could with weapons readied, attempting to get a clean shot without risking damage to the computer terminal.  
  
The VI continued speaking. " _At this time, I must ask you to move on. There is a queue forming behind you._ "  
  
The Krogan, bewildered, turned toward them.  
  
"Stupid VI," Tali grumbled.  
  
By this time the Krogan was already lifting his weapon. He snarled and pulled the trigger.  
  
There was no hope of getting to cover. So Robert jumped ahead of Shepard and felt through the Flow of Life, gathering its power and forming a wall of invisible force with it. It wasn't as easy as moving an object, and there was no time for him to even hope to grasp the individual metal slivers being fired from the rifle. He had to imagine force itself, a constant push away from him and toward the Krogan, with enough fine power to force the ME-field-accelerated slivers to stop.  
  
He succeeded. Mostly.  
  
Tali was the next to move. She lifted her omnitool and used its internal systems to project a thermal field, a use of the tool so delicate only an engineer or machinist of great skill could manage it. The weapon in the Krogan's hands stopped firing, emitting hot steam from its cooling vents, the sign of an overheat for a weapon using mass effect fields.  
  
Shepard shot forward, wreathed in biotic energy, and slammed into the Krogan with enough force to drive him into the wall beside the VI avatar. The VI, aware of the fighting, stated, " _It is against company policy for firearms to be discharged on company property. It is also against policy for any sort of physical altercation to take place. Roughhousing, throwdowns, and other such activities are…_ "  
  
As the machine issued its complaint, Ashley fired on the Krogan. Her assault rifle's firepower was met by a biotic field that protected their foe for the critical moment he needed to stand. He reached to his back and retrieved a shotgun.  
  
Shepard fired first, a shotgun blast into the Krogan's torso that went through the weakened biotic field and armor into flesh. The Krogan roared, just to be cut off by another shot from Shepard straight to his jaw. The result was a bloody mess and a gargle from the mutilated Krogan. Not to be outdone, Tali's shotgun fired as well, sending a spray of metal slivers into the Krogan's neck and torso. Ashley poured another few shots into it.  
  
Robert did nothing. It seemed unnecessary at this point. And he had other concerns.  
  
"That's pretty useful," Ashley said, turning toward Robert. "Being able to… oh God."  
  
Robert grinned weakly while the blood oozed through his fingers, where his left hand was holding a point in his armor between his left hip and side. Multiple impact points showed where the armor had successfully stopped further projectiles. "Stopped most of them," he said. "But I didn't have the control to stop them all. A few slipped past." He moved to lean against the wall.  
  
Shepard approached him and looked down at the wound. "It looks like a lucky hit," she said. "Slipped between thicker plates and hit just above the hip joint. Will you be able to walk?"  
  
"Probably," Robert said. "Just have to stop the bleeding."  
  
"Let's get some medigel on that." Shepard pulled open a pouch of gear on her suit and brought out a medigel dispenser. Moving it over the bloody area on his armor, Shepard found the gap caused by the lucky shot and dispensed a full dose of the gene-engineered healing substance into the wound. The pain immediately subsided, as did the flow of blood.  
  
"Now I see why the Citadel Council turns a blind eye to this stuff," Robert murmured.  
  
"Too damned useful, especially without dermal regenerators," Shepard agreed. Content that Robert was alright, Shepard turned her attention to the VI.  
  
" _Apologies. Due to technical difficulties, I am unable to summon medical assistance_ ," the VI apologized.  
  
"That's alright, it's handled," Shepard replied.  
  
" _Very well. I shall make a notation on your file, Researcher Elisabeth Baynham, that you are proficient in the provision of first aid. ExoGeni values employees with a variety of skills and talents. May I assist you further?_ "  
  
"Yes, you can," Shepard replied. "To start with, just what was the Krogan before me asking? What did you tell him?"  
  
" _I was unable to provide access due to lack of proper company identification. The unknown individual was inquiring about Species 37_."  
  
Shepard immediately understood what that meant. "What did they want to know about the Thorian?"  
  
" _The inquiries were into the behavior off the test subjects enthralled to its control and alternate routes to its location._ "  
  
"The Thorian is under Zhu's Hope, correct?"  
  
" _As of last recorded readings, yes. The Thorian is in the substructure of the tower beneath the colony. However, sensors observing the Thorian have been offline for several cycles. Current location cannot be verified._ "  
  
Everyone exchanged looks. Indeed, everyone had the same thought. "What are its vulnerabilities?" asked Shepard.  
  
" _I am afraid that data is classified beyond your current access level, Researcher Baynham._ "  
  
"Under whose authority?"  
  
" _Feros Administrative Operations Officer Ethan Jeong_. _It is recommended that you consult with Mister Jeong to learn more about your probation and limited access, Researcher Baynham._ "  
  
"Oh, I think I'll be having a long talk with him." There was an edge to Shepard's voice Robert didn't often hear. "We're done."  
  
" _Shutting down. Remember, I am always here to assist you in improving your performance. ExoGeni would not be the firm it was without its dedicated employees._ " With that final remark, the VI shut down.  
  
"I can see what the Wal-Mart back home might do with those things," Robert mumbled. "And it makes me nauseous."  
  
"I've never understood why corporations speak to their employees like that. Like they're little children," Tali said.  
  
"We can speculate about economics later," Shepard said. "Let's move out."  
  
  
  
  
Anders was in the middle of that standard Marine duty - "hurry up and wait" - when he got the call from topside. " _Major, Geth dropship on approach. They're bypassing the perimeters_ ," said Sanger.  
  
_Damn_. "I guess one got through the fight in orbit," Anders responded. "Get all teams back to the opening. My teams will cover from the inside." He motioned to the others. "Back to the lift, go, go!"  
  
The other Marines responded. Anders followed them while calling up the geeks. "Better hurry up down there," he warned. "We've got company."  
  
" _We're almost done, dammit!_ " Barnes replied. " _Just give us a few more minutes!_ "  
  
"I'll do what I can," Anders pledged.  
  
  
  
  
Geth fire streaked over Robert's head from where he and Tali were ducking behind cover. Below them, in what had once been a machinery space, the Geth were holding an open port through which their dropship was clinging to the tower. Computer interfaces nearby were joined by controls for the port in question. "If we can close that door, we'll shear off the arm," Tali noted.  
  
Nearby Shepard and Ashley were opening up with assault rifles. Given the larger Geth platforms and the number of guns, Shepard was refraining from her usual biotics-fueled charges. Instead, whenever Robert felt the ripple of energy from biotics being employed, it was to see Shepard throwing bolts and shockwaves of biotic force.  
  
Ashley threw a grenade down. A shower of rubble flew up, joined with parts from a broken Geth platform. "There's an awful lot of them." She glanced to Robert. "Why not rip the claw with your powers?"  
  
Tali gave an answer before he could. "No, it's tied too tightly into the structure now. He could damage the entire tower ripping the claw loose."  
  
"Right now I wish I had one of Lucy's lightsabers," Robert admitted. "I could have cut it loose easily."  
  
"Can you try and force the door closed?" Shepard asked him.  
  
He considered it. He had the power. Control… that would be the hard part. "I can try," he said. "But I need to be able to concentrate. And it'll help if I can see it."  
  
"Get down toward the bottom of the stairs until you can see it from the wall. We'll cover you."  
  
Robert nodded. Keeping his knees and back bent, he moved over to the stairs leading down to the area of the platform where the Geth were. Shepard moved up behind him and gave cover fire. He didn't see the effect her fire had until he could finally see the door from cover and noticed, to his left, the broken Geth platform that had tried to cut him off. Shepard knelt beside him and held her weapon up to cover the stairs. "Good enough?"  
  
"Yeah," Robert said. He looked at the door and felt out through the Flow of Life, directing the warm power within him to grip the port from both sides and slide it inward.  
  
Around him weapons fire continued, the ongoing firefight a distraction that was dangerous to him. Again he felt control slip. The immense power threatened to expand beyond his reach, to lash out wildly, and there was no telling the damage he'd cause if that happened. _No. No, I am in control. Breathe in, breathe out, feel the Flow of Life and the connection within…_  
  
With the lessons he learned from Kilaba and Ledosh he held his control, forcing himself to breathe carefully, using that breath to direct his struggling grip.  
  
There was a shriek of metal grinding followed by a loud crash. He'd closed the door partially, up to the claw itself… but he hadn't shut it hard enough. He kept the control he needed, refusing to let it slip, and directed the doors to open up completely and slam together again. This time the force almost did it, but again it wasn't enough.  
  
So he tried again. One more time.  
  
The doors sheared right through the trunk of the Geth ship's claw.  
  
The loss of the connection was too much for the Geth ship. The tower shuddered as the other claw came loose, unable to keep a grip by itself. The shuddering stopped. The Geth ship was free of the tower and beginning its long, terminal fall to the rubble below.  
  
" _...hear us? Commander, this is an emergency!_ " The voice cut in from nowhere, immediately recognized by all as Joker.  
  
"I'm here," Shepard said. "We just cleared the jamming source."  
  
" _That's a relief. The_ Normandy _is under attack, Commander_."  
  
"More Geth?"  
  
" _No, that's the strange part. It's the colonists. They've all gone mad, they're trying to break in. I don't think they can, but Lieutenant Alenko and the others have a fireteam ready to open up if they come through the airlock._ "  
  
"It's got to be the Thorian," Robert said, now moving over to join Shepard. He squeezed off a series of shots that took out a Geth approaching the front of the stairs. "It wants to take over your crew too. Or it thinks we're a threat to it."  
  
"Well, it's right about that," Shepard remarked. Over her omnitool, she said, "They've been exposed to something, Joker. Just make sure it doesn't get into the ship. Switch to life support only if it looks like the filters are compromised. We'll see what we can do but right now we're still busy with Geth!"  
  
As if to punctuate her point, Shepard rose above cover and fired her shotgun. The shot blew open the torso of a Geth platform. Robert was certain Joker overheard it. " _Yes ma'am_ ," he said. " _We'll keep you informed._ "  
  
Once the call ended Shepard gestured to the others. "Ashley, Robert, cover fire! Tali, you're with me, we're sweeping this place clear!"  
  
Everyone responded in the affirmative and followed Shepard's lead.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
In the Therum dig site, Anders' voice echoed over the science team's comm units. " _We're holding them at the entrance right now. But they've got some Krogan mercs with them too, and they're not going down easy._ "  
  
"We're almost done here," Lucy replied.  
  
The sound of weapons fire and explosions echoed in the background of their linked comm units. Anders seemed unflappable when he replied, " _Good. We'll hold the door open for you_."  
  
"So, it looks like the focusing lens is good. And the power source is ready." Barnes stood up. "I say we fire this fraker up!"  
  
"Everyone over here," Lucy called out to the others. "Just in case."  
  
The assembled team all came together behind the drill. Barnes finished a final check and then crowed, "Fire in the hole!"  
  
A bright beam of concentrated light surged from the end of the drill. The chamber rumbled violently and debris flew upward, blown away by the violence of the energy being driven down toward the tower. Wisps of mostly-atomized rock formed clouds around the forming tunnel through the earth.  
  
"Keep going," Cat said. "Keep going… _stop_!"  
  
Barnes shut down the laser drill. Wisps of steam and debris rose from the new tunnel carved into the ground. As the cloud of debris settled the gray of the tower became visible, as did the bluish tint of the interior.  
  
An interior uncovered by a particle barrier.  
  
"Alright! You did it!" Cat hugged Barnes. "Good job!"  
  
"Well, it's one of the reasons I became an engineer," he answered. "Blowing crap up is _cool_."  
  
The team hurried down through the rock and into the interior, lit up and entirely different in atmosphere from the cavern they'd just exited. They arrived at the middle section of the tower, where a console was present. "This whole section is a lift," Tra'dur noted. "Most likely controlled from there…"  
  
Cat looked over the control in question. Remembering what happened to Liara, she accessed it with her omnitool instead of pressing it with her hand. "Hrm, looks like some general security precautions. I think we can bypass it…"  
  
"I believe so, Cat'Delgado," Tra'dur agreed, working her own omnitool. "Is everyone ready?"  
  
"Well, yeah," Lucy said.  
  
A few moments later, the floor under them shuddered and began to rise.  
  
"This will get us to the next level," Tra'dur said. "Then all we need to do is free Doctor T'Soni."  
  
"And get past a bunch of angry Krogan and Geth," added Lucy.  
  
"Yeah." Cat looked over her scans. "The Protheans built this thing from some pretty exotic minerals. I doubt a transporter can safely lock onto us in here."  
  
"We'll have to be ready to fight, won't we?" asked Talara.  
  
"Most likely," said Tra'dur, as the lift finished its trip to the next level. Liara T'Soni was still trapped in her bubble and unable to look behind her back. "Give us but a bit of time, Doctor T'Soni, and you shall be free," Tra'dur assured her.  
  
Cat went to the controls and interacted with them through her omnitool. Liara turned her head toward her. "Do you know why the Geth are attacking the dig site? There's nothing valuable here. Or is this some sort of trick by the mining companies?"  
  
"Oh, they're Geth," said Cat. "And they may be here for you."  
  
"Me?" Liara's surprise was obvious. "Why would they be interested in me? I'm just an archaeologist."  
  
"An archaeologist specializing in the Protheans," said Lucy. "And one who's in favor of the Reaper theory, which may be far more true than anyone imagined." She gave the others a look to silence them. They'd bring up Benezia later.  
  
"Wait, you mean you have evidence of the Reapers annihilating the Protheans?" Liara asked. Her voice rose in volume and excitement, hinting of almost desperate eagerness.  
  
"Not enough to convince the Council, or even our own government," Lucy replied. "But we know they were behind the destruction of the Adranian civilization a quarter million years ago."  
  
"The Adranians... Yes, I remember reading the papers that were published in our archaeology journals. When I was done here I planned to request permission to join the team exploring their ruins."  
  
"One moment… Tra'dur, do you see…"  
  
"Yes, the security programming. Very sophisticated. Tom'Barnes, if we link our omnitools with Cat'Delgado, I believe we can bypass the program that imprisoned Doctor T'Soni."  
  
"Sure thing." Barnes brought his forearm up. Once his omni-tool came alive he operated it with his hands, creating the link Tra'dur proposed and running infiltration software. "Some pretty sophisticated stuff. The Darglan could have given them a few pointers on computer software though."  
  
The bubble around Liara faded from existence, letting her drop to the floor. The particle barrier around the tower also died out. Lucy went to help her, but Cat beat her to it, helping Liara to stand. "Goddess, I was afraid I would die in there," Liara confessed. "Thank you."  
  
"You're welcome." Caterina tapped at her omnitool. "Delgado to _Aurora_ , we've got Doctor T'Soni and the particle field is down. Can we beam out?"  
  
" _Negative, Lieutenant_ ," Jarod answered. " _We're still engaged with a Geth squadron. The shields are up._ "  
  
"Then we'd better get back to the Marines," Lucy said. "Just in case."  
  
Cat motioned behind them. "That lift can take us back to the top level of the site. Can you walk?"  
  
"I think." Liara took a ginger step. She looked stiff from her prolonged time in the bubble.  
  
"How long were you in that fraking thing?" Barnes asked.  
  
"Um… a day or so, I think. I feel very weak."  
  
"Here." Cat offered her canteen. "Have a drink."  
  
"And rations." Tra'dur offered these, in the form of a bar of food matter. "Asari are levo-compatible, yes?"  
  
"We are." Liara took the water first. Tra'dur continued to help her to the lift, then Cat took over, with some visible effort, when she switched to eating at the ration bar.  
  
Barnes activated the lift. This time the shuddering beneath them was stronger. "That… wasn't the lift, was it?" Talara asked.  
  
"No, I fear not," Theek said. The Alakin geologist had his omnitool active and was going over scan results. "Whether it was the particle barrier being raised and dropped or that laser drill, someone has destabilized a magma pocket under the tower. The internal pressure is building and will likely lead to a surface eruption within half an hour."  
  
That drew a sigh from Lucy. "Nothing is ever simple in this job."  
  
  
  
  
Shepard led the way out of ExoGeni HQ. Liz Baynham was waiting for them at the Mako, as Shepard had instructed her to do. Everyone piled back into the Mako, with Ashley taking the gunner's seat this time so Liz and Tali could look over Robert's wound. "It looks like the medigel seal is holding," Tali said. "You'll be fine."  
  
Robert nodded. "A relief to know." There was still a sting of pain at the impact site, but nothing serious now.  
  
He felt slightly more than a sting a moment later as the entire craft kicked into gear. Shepard's rapid turn pulled him into his seat, followed by an acceleration that drove them out of the garage. "No sign of any Geth, ma'am," Ashley said from her seat. "It looks like we got 'em all."  
  
"Best news I've heard all day," Shepard muttered. "Now we just have to deal with this Thorian thing. Baynham, any suggestions? I'd rather not have to shoot my way through people who can't control themselves."  
  
"My mother may know something that could work, she's done far more work on the Thorian than I ever did," Liz replied. "But don't ask her on the radio, if Jeong overhears…"  
  
"You seem quite afraid of him," Tali observed.  
  
"All he cares about is the corporation's bottom line. I… I thought he sent you to kill me," Liz confessed. "It's why I shot at you. He knows I'm trying to alert the government about the Thorian, and what he and ExoGeni have done. He might even kill my mother, anything to save the company."  
  
"We'll deal with him when we get there, don't worry. But for now, hold on." With that Shepard accelerated the Mako down the Skyway, past the still-burning remnants of the Geth they'd fought before.  
  
  
  
  
The trip up the lifts was nerve-wracking given the increasing rumbling. Once the lift stopped Cat shouted "Go! Go!" Lucy was impressed by the fact Cat waited until everyone was off the lift before continuing, letting Tra'dur and Tulari carry Liara. The entire shaft shuddered around them with enough violence that loose chunks of rock were flying free. They were met at the lift by two Marines. "The Major's above, holding the line," one of them said in a Gersallian lilt.  
  
Cat nodded and followed everyone onto the lift. Lucy activated it the moment everyone was aboard. More shuddering threatened to knock over Liara and Tra'dur, the latter helping the former keep her footing. The lift began to ascend.  
  
As for Cat, her heart was pounding and her legs felt rubbery from all of the running. She mused to herself that the Doctor would be teasing her, given how much they'd had to run during her journey with him. Her finger tapped at her omnitool. "Delgado to _Aurora_. We're less than half an hour from a major eruption in the magma pocket under this site. We need beamout ASAP."  
  
This time it was Meridina who replied to them. " _We are still heavily engaged, Lieutenant, and the enemy's positioning will not let us lower shields. You will have to fly out by runabout_."  
  
"Alright. We'll do what we can." Cat looked at Liara and cringed. "We left your suit behind, didn't we?"  
  
"I am afraid the Geth took it," she said. "Probably to keep me from escaping on my own."  
  
"We bring emergency spares, although they're only soft suits." Caterina reached into her pack and brought one out, a folded up square of insulated material with a plastic faceplate. She unfolded it and handed it to Liara. "It's got a small compressed breathing pack, but it won't last more than an hour. And with the top-side heat you're probably going to feel temperatures up to 40 degrees Celsius, so hydrate again before the lift gets to the top."  
  
"Thank you," Liara said, already fitting the legs of the one-piece insulated suit over her jumpsuit. "Although I doubt I will die of heat exposure before we all die from the lava eruption."  
  
Talara heard that and drew in a breath. She felt trapped here, surrounded by danger. It wasn't the first time she'd felt this way in a life-threatening situation, certainly, but today it seemed even greater in intensity. She noticed Lucy looking toward her. "I'm just anxious, Lieutenant. It won't affect my performance, I promise."  
  
"I know," Lucy said. She pulled her inactive lightsaber from her belt. "Get ready, everyone. The moment the lift gets to the surface, we're going to be in a firefight."  
  
"Right." Cat felt toward her hip, where her pulse pistol was. She was a terrible shot, admittedly, and the Doctor would have shaken his head at her for carrying a gun.  
  
_Still, I don't have much choice_ , she considered before willing the lift to go faster.  
  
  
  
  
The Mako raced into the next tower and turned onto the ramp leading down to the next Skyway level. As they moved in a voice cut over the radio. " _Commander Shepard, this is Juliana Baynham_. _Please, I need to…_ "  
  
" _What are you doing?!_ " a voice demanded in the background.  
  
" _Get her away from that radio!_ " Jeong screamed.  
  
"Mother!" Liz darted for the door. "Let me out!"  
  
"Hold on." Shepard brought them to the bottom of the ramp. As soon as she brought the Mako to a stop Liz opened the door and jumped out. "Dammit Baynham, wait!"  
  
"I'm with her!" Ashley responded. She finished removing her harness and leapt from her seat, pulling her rifle over her shoulder. Tali followed behind her, shotgun ready. Shepard and Robert took the rear.  
  
Liz rushed down the ramp. "Mom! Mom, are you okay?! Mom, I'm…"  
  
A gunshot rang out. There was a burst of blood and Liz Baynham collapsed to the floor in a scream.  
  
" _Liz! NO!_ " cried Juliana's voice.  
  
"Shepard?!" Now it was Jeong. "Shepard, I want you and your squad front and center, no guns! Do it now or I'll be forced to take extreme measures! You've got thirty seconds or I start shooting!"


	4. Chapter 4

"Twenty seconds left, Shepard!" Jeong's voice nearly vibrated with the tense emotions Robert felt in him. Fear bordering on terror, frustration, anger.  
  
"This guy's going off the deep end," Ashley remarked. "If we go in unarmed he could shoot us all."  
  
"And if we go in with guns blazing, who knows how many people get hurt?" Robert asked. "I can stop him if he acts, but I say let's play along."  
  
Shepard looked back at them, her green eyes moving from Ashley to Robert. After Jeong shouted five seconds she nodded. "Alright." Louder, she shouted, "We're coming out, weapons down!" Shepard holstered her shotgun and held her hands out.  
  
Ashley gave a frustrated look and put her rifle up. Robert holstered his pistol and joined her in following Shepard into the open.  
  
Behind them, Tali grumbled in Quarian, not bothering to let her vocoder translate it.  
  
Stepping into the open gave them a view of what was happening. Liz Baynham was on the ground, a growing pool of blood below her and her mother kneeling over her. Juliana's hands were stained with her daughter's blood, trying to stop the bleeding from Liz's hip. Standing over them, gun extended, was Ethan Jeong. His security personnel had their guns drawn as well, if at rest. "I've read up on you, Shepard. And your team." Robert sensed the desperation, the near panic, within Jeong. Something had gone wrong. "I was still hoping you wouldn't find out about Species 37. That you'd get rid of the Geth and clear out. That this treacherous _little bitch_ would be _dead_."  
  
"Well, we know," Shepard said. Her voice was firm, but without the edge of active threat. "You used the Zhu's Hope colonists as test subjects. Little more than lab rats. You broke the law and made yourself a monster."  
  
"Who cares about a few stupid colonists?" he shot back. "Analysis of the Thorian could lead us to whole new ways of understanding how to manipulate a brain. ExoGeni had the chance of a lifetime here on Feros, we couldn't let the colonists screw it up! Imagine being able to control violent prisoners without guns? Or being able to break up riots? We could do this with the Thorian's spores if we can figure out how to reproduce them and use them ourselves."  
  
"You're talking about slavery," Robert said. "That's what this is."  
  
"No it's not!" Jeong retorted. "But I'd expect to hear that kind of thing from you. I've read up on you too. You're worse than Shepard! You made a career out of sticking your nose in and demanding everybody obey you or get blown away by a starship gun."  
  
"Put the gun down, Jeong," Shepard said. Again her voice was firm, and now it took a commanding edge. "I don't want to hurt you."  
  
"I don't care what you want! Because of you, because of Saren, I'm ruined!"  
  
Robert felt it then. Jeong's uncertainty, his fear, all of it held him in check. But it was starting to shift. Within seconds he would build up the nerve and give the order to open fire.  
  
He reached up with his hand. With the movement his power reached out and gripped Jeong's firearm. Jeong cried out in surprise when the gun was wrenched from his hand and sent flying into Robert's own hand.  
  
Biotic energy surged from Shepard's arm and struck one of the guards. He went flying backward.  
  
The other guard brought his weapon up. But before he could fire Robert reached out with his energy again. This time, however, his control slipped. Instead of grabbing the weapon like he'd done to Jeong, Robert felt his energy become raw, unchannelled force. It struck the man directly and sent him flying as if struck by a car. He slammed into the opposite wall and fell, utterly still. Nearby researchers rushed to check on him. With a sense of panic himself Robert desperately sought out the man's life energy, to make sure he survived, and was relieved to feel said life was intact and not fading. He hadn't killed the man on accident.  
  
Jeong stared at his open hand with wide eyes, followed by glancing back at the guard Robert had just tossed. Accident or not, it had a clear sobering effect upon the ExoGeni officer. "God, you… you're… you're not going to kill me, are you?"  
  
"That wasn't in the plan, no." Shepard glanced toward Robert with evident concern. He returned the look sheepishly. "A bit much, wasn't it?"  
  
"Not intended. I let my control slip."  
  
"I'll say," Ashley said. "He looked like he was hit by an aircar. If he wasn't in tactical armor I think it might have actually killed him."  
  
"Be more careful next time, please," Shepard instructed Robert. He responded with a nod. "And can you help Miss Baynham? It doesn't look serious, but I want to make sure she's alright."  
  
"Sure." Robert went over and kneeled beside the mother and daughter. He could sense the wound was indeed not too serious, so long as the bleeding was stopped. "I'll hold it in while you get a medical kit," he told Juliana, who responded by pulling her blood-coated hands away. Robert, rattled as he was at his failure in control, didn't want to risk it again by using his life energies, instead pushing his hands to the wound and applying pressure. "You'll be okay," he assured Liz.  
  
The wounded young woman responded with a nod.  
  
Shepard turned her attention to the rapidly-paling Jeong. "Alright, why did you want to kill us? What's going on here, and what's it got to do with Saren?" Her eyes narrowed. "Start from the beginning."  
  
"Saren Arterius found out about our experiment," Jeong said. "I don't know how, but since he's a Spectre I guess he had ways to do it. He came to me about a week ago and threatened to expose ExoGeni if we didn't give him access to the Thorian. He wouldn't let me call Corporate so I had to make the decision."  
  
"And instead of helping us set a trap for the most-wanted man in the galaxy, you knuckled under," Ashley said accusingly.  
  
"If these experiments were exposed, the company would be ruined!" Jeong insisted. "The fines alone, and plus the lawsuits…"  
  
"Don't forget the jail time," Robert added from where he was aiding the Baynhams. Juliana was now returning with a medkit, including a medigel dispenser. "Especially for you. Your bosses certainly would've negotiated a plea deal."  
  
"I couldn't let news get out!" Jeong insisted. "So I let Saren have access and thought it was over. Then yesterday the Geth attacked!"  
  
"Whatever Saren got from the Thorian, he must be afraid we can get it," Tali said.  
  
"I'm not sure… listen, the Thorian made him give someone up. One of the Asari he went with didn't come back." Jeong shook his head. "The Thorian, I don't think it sees us as living beings. We're… we're tools to it. Potential thralls, that's it."  
  
"And you were feeding people to it." Ashley glowered at him. "How would you like it if the damn thing enslaved you?!"  
  
"It was for a higher cause. The company… we would've compensated the subjects!"  
  
"If any survived, you mean," Shepard said. "So why are you freaking out now? What's this about being ruined?"  
  
"Since you got rid of the Geth, I was able to reach Corporate," said Jeong. "They've ordered a purge. They want the colony shut down."  
  
"And the colonists?"  
  
"As I said, purge." Jeong shuddered. "And my career is in shambles. I'm going to be blamed for this."  
  
"Maybe. But you had bosses, right? People who approved this? Ordered it? You turn states' evidence on them and I'll put in a good word for you. If your bosses' bosses are smart, ExoGeni may even get out of this intact."  
  
Jeong actually had to think about it. Robert sensed the calculation. He knew his career was over either way, but a reflexive part of him still didn't want to betray his company, still had a faint hope that maybe, just maybe, the company might make it out of this, and he'd keep his job intact. In the end, resignation won out, and Robert knew Shepard had won even before Jeong's reply of "Alright. I'll testify."  
  
"Good. I'll hold you to that, don't doubt it," Shepard said. "Now, is there a way to disrupt the Thorians' control over the colonists? This thing is already attacking the _Normandy_ with them. I don't want to kill them trying to get to the Thorian."  
  
Juliana looked up from where she was finishing the medigel application to Liz's hip. "In testing we found there was a way to briefly disrupt the Thorian's control, using a weak, non-lethal concentration of a specific nerve gas mixture. It doesn't eliminate the spores, but it disrupts their control over the nervous system and knocks the subject out."  
  
"We're going to need that gas, then," Shepard said. "And a plan on how to distribute it."  
  
With Liz stabilized, Juliana and Robert stood. "This way," Juliana said. "We have the compound already loaded into gas grenades. We use them to secure colonists for taking blood and tissue samples after infection."  
  
"You're okay with this?" Robert asked her.  
  
"No, and most of us weren't," Juliana replied, guilt radiating from her. "But we didn't have the courage to stand up to Jeong and the bastards at Corporate. They made sure we couldn't leave until the tests were done and forbade anything but e-mails, which they read before sending." She shook her head. "It was just too easy for us to give up. I don't know if I'll ever sleep again." They arrived at a pile of crates. "Here, we should have a few dozen of them ready for use…"  
  
  
  
  
In the orbital space over Feros, the _Starship Aurora_ was still locked in combat against Geth vessels. Railgun and mass effect-propelled projectiles joined the plasma bolts of the Geth weapons striking her shields, while her own energy armament returned fire. Torpedoes from the bow launchers raced out and impacted against a Geth cruiser. Denuded of particle shields, the cruiser couldn't resist the naqia-enhanced warheads of the torpedoes. It was broken in half by the resulting detonations.  
  
"Enemy target destroyed," Angel reported triumphantly. Her hands moved effortlessly over her tactical board, directing the _Aurora_ 's advanced Darglan-based plasma weaponry to continue the onslaught against the Geth ships. On her tactical sensors she observed the _Koenig_ contributing. Under Will Atreiad, the ship was weaving in and out of Geth fire and returning said fire with its own. Torpedoes from the _Koenig_ flew from the rear launcher and collided with a light Geth craft, nearly vaporizing it.  
  
In her seat Julia could see they were winning the engagement, but not fast enough. Three Geth cruisers were still intact, weaving around each other to keep Angel's gunnery from tearing them apart one at a time. There were six more of the light ships and still many dozens of fighters engaging the _Koenig_ and the flight group. "Can we beam anyone out yet?"  
  
"I wouldn't recommend it," Jarod said. "Those Geth ships pack a punch against unshielded targets. If we drop shields and they get a direct hit, we could lose vital systems."  
  
"How long do they have?"  
  
At the sensor station, Lieutenant Amira al-Rashad checked her sensor readings of the planet. "Going by the readings, no more than twenty minutes."  
  
Julia tapped a key on her chair. "Andreys to Anders, Andreys to Delgado. You need to get out of there, now."  
  
" _We're trying_ , _Captain, but they're not making it easy_ ," Anders answered. " _They've brought a lot of firepower_."  
  
"Well, we won't be able to beam you out. So do what you can."  
  
" _Aye ma'am_."  
  
  
  
  
From their safe place at the entrance to the dig site, Anders and his Marines could fire back at the Krogan and Geth that were assembled. Above them a Geth dropship was still hovering, providing support fire and having driven off the relatively unarmed runabouts.  
  
"I'm open to suggestions," Anders said. "Before we all get terminal cases of hotfoot."  
  
From her point in the hiding place, Cat was looking out at the firefight through the helmet plate of her suit. They were back out in the hellish temperature, which didn't make the situation any more comfortable for any of them. "Well, Lucy can always do her badass Life Force Knight stuff to get the dropship."  
  
Nearby Lucy shook her head. "I've never made a jump that high. If we can get it lower to the ground…"  
  
"I doubt they're going to comply," Anders remarked.  
  
"Do your heavy suits not have anti-air rockets?" asked Tra'dur.  
  
"They do, yes, and I'd love to use them, but we're also under fire from multiple angles, and my perimeter teams are already hard-pressed trying to get through to us," noted Anders.  
  
" _We want the Asari!_ " a voice shouted. " _Send her out and we let you live!_ "  
  
"He's lying," Lucy said.  
  
"Your powers aside, Lieutenant, I was already pretty sure of that," Anders observed sarcastically. "So, any options before we try a likely-suicidal charge? Or do we just hope and pray Captain Andreys can retrieve us without risking the ship?"  
  
"Your landing craft, I thought some of them had transporter technology as well?" Liara asked.  
  
"They do, Doctor, but that would require them to drop shields, and they can't with that Dropship here," Talara said.  
  
"Why not order the pilots to fly a distance away, outside of the Dropship's effective firing range?" Liara asked.  
  
"Ordinarily a good plan," Anders agreed. "I'd already be having them try it if it didn't likely mean they get shot at by the Geth ships in orbit."  
  
"Although it might be an effective way to lure that Dropship away," Lucy pointed out. "The Geth may not want to divert attention from the fight in orbit."  
  
"Yeah, but I'm not sure…"  
  
As their tactical debate continued, Caterina checked her omnitool. She was thinking of their briefings on what the Geth were. "The Geth maintain an active uplink, right?"  
  
"Yeah, according to the Quarians," Lucy said.  
  
"Then maybe we can disrupt it," Cat suggested. "Enough to get that Dropship out of the way, at least. Or force it to come closer to maintain the network with the other platforms."  
  
Anders smiled. "Okay, I like that one. Some good old-fashioned e-warfare. What do you need?"  
  
"I need to isolate the frequency they maintain their network on. Then we can tie our omnitools and armor suits together and disrupt it." Caterina was busy operating her omnitool. "Wait… Lucy, Tra'dur, do you see…?"  
  
"I do," Lucy said.  
  
"As do I," Tra'dur added. "Operational at the one hundred and twenty-four point six kilohertz range in the second Groenitz-Hallen band. The omnitools, together, could create a short-wave disruption effect."  
  
"Everyone, link your omnitools to Lieutenant Delgado's," Lucy ordered.  
  
The science team did so. At the instruction of "You heard the lady, Marines!", Anders and his team did likewise. "Here," he said, checking over their findings. "For best effect, send out the disruption pulse at this…"  
  
"Got it," Cat confirmed. "Ready… now."  
  
Slinking near the entrance, and barely out of the incoming fire, Caterina brought her left arm up to point it in the general direction of the Geth dropship. After a couple of keystrokes she activated the pulse, powered by not just her omnitool but those of the others as well.  
  
For several moments nothing happened. Then she noticed it on her scanners. The Geth ship was starting to descend. "It's working," she said. "They're trying to reacquire their network signal with the other Geth."  
  
Lucy nodded and stood up. Everyone could see she was bracing herself. Talara even thought she could feel the energy settling in Lucy.  
  
"What are you doing?!" demanded the Krogan outside. "Pull back up! Pull…"  
  
It was too late. Lucy shot forward. She raced to the opening of the dig site entry tube and, just before the first step down, jumped. The energy in her leg muscles was amplified considerably by the life energies she was calling upon, sending her higher and further than even the best Human athlete could have managed in this gravity. At the apex of her jump Lucy's lightsaber flashed to life. The moment she landed on the Geth dropship she brought it down, slicing a gash through the vessel's armor-plated hull in defiance of its flickering particle barrier.  
  
This spectacle, and the failed attempts of the Geth and Krogan to fire on Lucy, gave the others the moment they needed. " _Semper Fi!_ " Anders called out, and at his order the Marines charged out of the tube firing. The heaviest armor went first, drawing fire they could better withstand and dealing out even more. Grenades and missiles flew through the air. The missiles exploded on impact, blasting through particle barriers to destroy Geth or kill Krogan. Some that missed still created explosive shockwaves that sent foes flying. The grenades did much the same.  
  
"Behind us!" Anders shouted, and the science team, with Liara, fell in. Liara was in the worst shape. The water and rations had given her some energy, but she was still weak, and the emergency suit she was in was proving as incapable as feared in fully protecting her from the deadly heat of Therum's inhospitable surface. It took everything she had just to keep herself in the rear, where Cat was following. Occasionally plasma fire started to come toward them, but the Marines' own fire would quickly eliminate the Geth platforms making those attacks.  
  
Anders himself spotted one of the biggest Krogan he'd ever seen emerging from cover, a massive shotgun in his arms. "Down him, now!" Anders cried. He opened up on the Krogan, as did the squad around him. The Krogan roared in retort and opened up with the shotgun. Anders didn't turn, but he heard the sickening sound of the powerful slug in the Krogan's shotgun shattering the helmet plate of the Marine beside him. Like that he knew he'd lost one of his Marines. That their mission was almost successful, indeed, that the runabouts were ahead and his perimeter teams already in place to cover their retreat into the waiting craft… that was soured by the knowledge he'd lost one of his people.  
  
He was darkly satisfied to see the Krogan didn't last long enough for a second shot. He went down in a hail of energy pulses.  
  
To remind him he had other problems, the ground quaked. The magma pocket below was about to erupt. "Double time it people, get to the runabouts!" Anders guided his Marines in, continuing to direct fire at the Geth force even now moving on his flank. "Just a bit longer, Marines! We hold until our science people are safe!"  
  
"We're almost there," Talara urged the others. Ahead of her Tulari, who was holding a wounded arm, stumbled into the protection of a power-armored Alakin corpswoman who pulled her toward the _Warri_. Other Marines were already boarding the _Gonzales_. Talara looked back to where Liara was collapsing to her knees from exhaustion. She stopped, as did Tra'dur. "Doctor T'Soni, just a little further."  
  
Cat came up and helped Liara up. "We're almost there," Cat said to her. "You can make it."  
  
"How… do you… do this?" Liara asked between gasps.  
  
"Practice. And not my first volcanic planet." Cat smiled from a memory. "But my first when I wasn't being chased by a lava monster. The Doctor and I got a little lucky with that one, we… watch out!"  
  
Cat noticed the threat just before the enraged roar echoed in everyone's helmets. The bleeding, battered Krogan battlemaster was back on his feet and already charging toward them. A mad gleam filled his ruby-colored eyes, eyes that looked so close to Wrex's, but now full of nothing but mindless rage. " _Look out!_ " she shrieked. With a heave of her arms, Cat threw Liara forward to get her to safety.  
  
Then there was raw pain when the Krogan slammed into her. His arms gripped Cat by the ribs and carried her along until, a couple seconds later, he rammed her at full force into the pillar of the dig site's half-completed structure. Cat screamed from the pain of the impact, a savage pain that filled her chest and drowned out everything else.  
  
That pain increased as the Krogan slammed her into the pillar again. And again.  
  
With the Marines fully engaged fighting the remaining Geth, Tra'dur was the first to react. She raised her sidearm, the same heavy slugthrower with which she had shot down the raging Weyrloc Tral on Tira, and opened up. The first shot hit the Krogan's hip, shattering armor and sending blood erupting from the wound.  
  
Cat, rendered nearly mindless herself from pain, feebly reached for her pulse pistol. But then the Krogan slammed her into the pillar again, this time with enough force that her head snapped back and slammed into it as well. There was a brief surge of pain in Cat's head and then a nice, merciful blackness that put an end to the agony.  
  
Again Tra'dur's slugthrower rang out. This time the shot was nearly fatal, but the armored carapace of the Krogan's head and the angle kept it from penetrating fully. In agony and still raging, the Krogan roared and tossed Caterina at Tra'dur. Tra'dur didn't have time to evade before Cat slammed into her, flailing like a thrown rag-doll. The impact knocked Tra'dur to the ground.  
  
The Krogan was already moving forward. Without even thinking about it, one of its powerful legs slammed down on Tra'dur's left leg. Pain exploded up the limb accompanied with the audible snapping of the bone. Tra'dur brought her arm up with the gun and fired again. This shot was the best yet, going through the Krogan's chin and pulping his right eye. But in the throes of a blood rage this pain was insufficient to register. If anything, it won the instinctive attention of the creature, who slapped Tra'dur's hand with enough force to send her gun flying from it. His other foot came down on her arm with enforce force to fracture bone. Tra'dur yowled in response, and thought frantically. She could already see the Krogan's next act. Likely to either be a boot on her head, or a punch. Unless the Marines acted, of course, and turned their weapons on the raging Krogan.  
  
But the shots that hit Krogan were not from their rifles. It was the slightly weaker shots from a pulse pistol. Talara took up a firing stance, both hands on her weapon, and put shot after shot into the wounded Krogan. The setting was high enough to wound, to kill if she hit the right point, but the redundancies of Krogan physiology were making that difficult.  
  
The benefit was that she'd drawn the Krogan's attention. He turned away from Tra'dur.  
  
The downside was that he was charging her now.  
  
It was a moment that, in retrospect, could have gone many other ways. Talara could have tried to dodge to the side. She may have even made it. Or she wouldn't have and, like Cat and Tra'dur, would have endured a hammering at the hands of a blood-raged Krogan. Or she might have opened fire, with similar chances of succeeding or failing and taking a hit.  
  
But she did neither.  
  
There was, for Talara, a moment of absolute clarity like few she'd ever realized. It was perhaps like the one she'd felt when she heard that the Alliance had gone to war with the Nazi Reich, and that it was a war she had an ethical obligation to fight in, a war where she and her fellow Falaens would be called upon to uphold the spirits of the mythic heroes of their Altean past, the memories of King Alfor and Queen Fala and Princess Allura that should be honored.  
  
That moment of clarity kept her from leaping out of the way. It kept her from just trying to shoot. Instead, as if by instinct, Talara raised her hand and screamed, " _No!_ "  
  
Within her body, within her soul, Talara felt something resonate with that cry. A feeling similar to when she was trying to interface with the _Castle of Lions_ , endeavoring to save the lives of Princess Allura and Lucy Lucero, came to her, but stronger. Greater. The feeling surged with power, and surged from her hand and from her, from everything that was Talara, leaping toward the Krogan.  
  
Raw force, unseen, unheard, slammed into the blood-raged alien, sending the Krogan flying back into the pillar it had just been slamming Caterina into.  
  
Tra'dur, despite the pain she was in, forced herself to sit up. Her eyes widened briefly at seeing what Talara had wrought.  
  
Talara herself stared at her hand in surprise. Inside she felt strange. Like something within her was stirring. A part of her just now waking from a slumber that had lasted her whole life.  
  
The Krogan roared and charged at her again. Talara focused on that feeling within her and drew from it, imagining the Krogan falling back, insisting it must.  
  
Another wave of force answered. Yet again the Krogan slammed into the pillar.  
  
And this time, he didn't move. He didn't have time. Anders and one of his Marines poured more fire into the blood-raged Krogan until even his robust physiology couldn't function any longer. He collapsed beside the pillar. Talara sensed something like a light going out. A flicker of flame dying, replaced only by nothingness.  
  
"Move move move!" Anders' voice broke her from her thoughts. "Tend the wounded!"  
  
"Right away!" Talara rushed forward and picked up Caterina. She was unconscious but alive. That Talara knew for certain.  
  
There was an explosion from above them. Everyone briefly looked to see the Geth dropship blow apart. A moment later Lucy landed fifteen feet away, slamming the ground and creating a ripple of fine dust from the impact. Her lightsaber, still active, was held out and ready for more fighting.  
  
But it wasn't a fight they had to worry about. The ground shuddered beneath them, more violent than before.  
  
"Lava eruption imminent!" Theek shouted. "We must get to safety!"  
  
Lucy shut down her lightsaber and returned it to her belt. She went straight for Tra'dur and helped her up while Anders picked up the exhausted Liara. "Let's go! We're out of time!" she shouted, running toward the _Warri_ as she did. The rear hatch of the runabout opened, revealing the modular area in the back for storing their gear.  
  
The shuddering under them ceased for a moment. Lucy and Talara both felt what came next in the seconds before it did. A loud roar filled the air and, behind them and the dig site, a jet of lava flew upward by at least twenty meters. As Lucy made it to the _Warri_ with the hobbling, injured Tra'dur, lava spewed violently from the dig site tube. She helped Tra'dur into a seat and dashed to the cockpit. The _Warri_ moved under her as she passed through the small living space between the cargo module and the cockpit. By the time she reached the cockpit the ship was already in mid-air. She took a seat at operations and tapped a key. " _Warri_ to _Aurora_ , we're clear. I repeat, we're clear, and we have wounded. How do you want to..."  
  
  
  
  
"... _handle this?_ " Lucy's voice said over the speaker.  
  
The _Aurora_ shuddered again, taking another hit to her degrading shields while, on the screen, another Geth cruiser was burning from Angel's efforts. "Shields are down to fifteen percent," Jarod said.  
  
"The _Koenig_ 's shields are also down to twenty percent," Meridina confirmed.  
  
"Status on pilots?"  
  
"Four fighters lost. One escape pod."  
  
Julia frowned at that. Six dead flight crew. "Tractor it or have _Koenig_ pick it up. Helm, put us in position to receive our runabouts without exposing them to enemy fire. All ships, I want those runabouts back safe and sound."  
  
"Aye ma'am," said Locarno.  
  
"Orders relayed," Meridina confirmed. "Received."  
  
"Aurora _, we've received your course_ ," Lucy's voice said. " _We'll be out of atmosphere in ten seconds. Nine… eight…_ "  
  
The Geth attackers finally seemed to notice the two runabouts climbing through the atmosphere. They broke away from where they were keeping _Koenig_ boxed in. The attack ship maneuvered to open up on the aft of one of the ships, blowing it to pieces with pulse phaser cannon fire. Angel's plasma beams lashed out at the ships as well, slicing one apart and damaging the others. Nevertheless they fired.  
  
"They're shooting at our runabouts. But no hits yet," al-Rashad said.  
  
"... _two… one…_ "  
  
The two runabouts entered orbit. The _Aurora_ was already moving to meet them. Of the remaining three Geth attackers, one went up to the _Koenig_ 's continued attack. The two remaining ones continued to move for the runabouts.  
  
"Miss Delgado, I want those attackers out of the way!" Julia insisted.  
  
"Aiming now, Captain," Angela assured her.  
  
This time the _Aurora_ 's main bow cannons opened up. The thick sapphire pulses utterly obliterated one of the attackers. Sapphire beams carved into the remaining attacker, joined by the amber bursts from the _Koenig_ 's pulse phasers. It dodged and weaved, trying to get a clear shot on the _Warri_ or _Gonzales_.  
  
The _Koenig_ 's solar torpedoes raced out and struck the Geth attacker in the mid-section. It blew apart in a burst of white light.  
  
More heavy shots from the lone surviving Geth cruiser struck their rear shields. "Shields down to ten percent," Jarod said.  
  
"Come about and reinforce bow shields," she ordered.  
  
The order was followed. It provided two benefits; bringing their biggest weapons to bear on the target and bringing the shuttle bays out of the line of fire.  
  
"The runabouts are landing in the Main Bay," Jarod said.  
  
"Good. Tactical, give them everything we've got left."  
  
"Aye ma'am." Angel grinned at the order before finishing her new firing solution.  
  
The resulting exchange of fire filled the orbital space over Therum. More sapphire pulses and beams were joined by over a dozen blue-white sparks, the drive fields of the solar torpedoes that followed the target lock Angel had achieved. The shields of the _Aurora_ flashed blue as they struggled to repel the incoming railgun and plasma fire.  
  
The exchange, when finished, clearly went against the Geth. The _Aurora_ 's bow shields were still intact, if degraded, while the Geth cruiser was reduced to a burning wreck. "I won't have the Geth attacking Nova Yekaterinburg in retaliation," Julia said. "Finish them off."  
  
"With pleasure."  
  
Again the _Aurora_ 's weapons fired, this time on tandem with _Koenig_. All energy fire, no torpedoes, which were unneeded. This barrage blew the Geth cruiser apart, leaving only debris field of inert, blackened shards.  
  
"Status on Geth fighters?" Julia asked Meridina.  
  
"They are under control," Meridina replied. "Commander Laurent assures us they will be eliminated within the minute."  
  
"Task the secondary batteries to help finish them off."  
  
Meridina did so. The particle interceptors on the _Aurora_ continued firing where they could safely engage the Geth without hurting their own fighters. Julia watched with satisfaction as every glowing red dot on the holotank disappeared. She tapped the panel on her chair. "Bridge to Main Shuttle Bay. How did it go?"  
  
" _Anders here. Mission successful, but not without casualties_."  
  
Julia nodded and forbade herself even the slightest celebratory grin. "How bad?"  
  
" _Private Yamashita is KIA, headshot. Lieutenants Delgado and Tra'dur are wounded, Delgado badly wounded._ "  
  
Julia glanced back to see the quiet look cross Angel's face. "How badly?"  
  
" _She got tackled and slammed around by a Krogan in a blood rage, Captain. She's alive, but the corpsman confirm head trauma, suspected concussion, and broken ribs at the least. Internal bleeding is confirmed. Doctor Gillam's just now arriving to get her to medbay._ "  
  
"And Tra'dur?"  
  
" _Broken leg and arm. She's otherwise fine._ " There was an edge in Anders' voice. " _I assume full responsibility for the injuries to the science team, Captain. I'll have a report to you by 2230 hours._ "  
  
"I understand." Julia nodded. "Bridge out." She tapped the key on her chair again. Again she was looking toward Tactical, where Angel was quietly stewing in anger and worry, while one of her subordinates, Syrandi Luneri, remained quiet at her battle station, Secondary Tactical, along the starboard side of the bridge beside Auxiliary Communications. "Lieutenant Luneri, please relieve Lieutenant Delgado."  
  
The Dorei, her dark purple skin joined by the teal-colored spots of her spotline and purple hair, looked up and nodded. "Aye Captain," she said in her accented English, the sound vaguely Pacific Islander to Julia's ears.  
  
With gratitude showing in her hazel-colored eyes, Angel rose from her station and went straight for the nearest lift.  
  
"Stand down from Code Red," Julia ordered. She released her harness and stood. "Maintain Yellow status. Commander Meridina, please join me. Commander Jarod, you have the bridge."  
  
"Yes Captain," Meridina said. She released her harness and stood. Jarod did the same, leaving Lieutenant Sabiha Neyzi to take Ops while he went to the command chair. Meridina followed Julia off of the bridge.  
  
  
  
  
Once the Mako pulled back into the vehicle garage for Zhu's Hope, the trouble began.  
  
The Baynhams, and a much-subdued Jeong, cooperated extensively with Shepard and her squad. Thanks to them the squad knew precisely where to go to get to the Thorian and what to expect. They found that the moment they pulled into the garage and encountered the husk-like humanoid figures, all that remained of age-old servitors of the Thorian. They resembled walking shoots of green plant more than anything, but Robert sensed the malevolent intent within them and pulled the trigger on his pistol. A _WHUP_ sound filled the air with each shot, the resulting blue bolts of energy blasting away part of the creature. A shotgun roared, then another; Tali and Shepard were joining him.  
  
There was more weapons fire from ahead. Robert sensed that veneer of despair and fear, made stronger now that he knew what it was. The colonists had a defense line here and the Thorian was forcing them to fight. Its control was absolute; any rebellion, even a thought, brought with it intense and unstoppable pain.  
  
Ashley responded by firing from the cover of the Mako. "The grenades, now," Shepard ordered, pulling one off. Robert and Tali each added one. With a little nudging from Robert the three grenades landed in a perfect pattern to spread the gas to all of the shooters. One by one they collapsed.  
  
This was only the start. At the lift, in the halls leading to the colony, at the colony itself, the colonists were all armed and fighting to hold them back. The Thorian had them shooting to kill while Shepard refused to give the same order, insisting on suppressive fire to support the throwing of the grenades. The Thorian undoubtedly realized what was going on. The colonists were becoming more aggressive as they continued, more heedless of their own lives. But regardless of the danger, Shepard continued to insist on the grenades.  
  
By the time they got to the colony proper, the incoming fire was inescapable. " _Commander, whatever you're doing, it's working. They're no longer attacking the ship_ ," Joker said over their comms.  
  
"Good. Get everyone you can spare into hazmat-compatible protection and send them out on my order," Shepard replied. "I'll need them to secure the colonists."  
  
"Shepard, there's too much fire," Tali said. "We'll never get a grenade thrown without getting shot."  
  
"Ma'am, maybe we should cut loose," Ashley said. "The way this thing sounds, they're better off dead than enslaved to it."  
  
"I understand the sentiment, Sergeant, believe me," Shepard answered. "But I'm not killing these people unless we have no choice, and we still do. Get your grenades ready. Robert, we'll go in and draw their fire as best as we can."  
  
"You want me to project a shield again." It wasn't a question. And Robert knew he didn't need to bring up what happened last time. There was still a sting in his side from it.  
  
"Exactly. I'm counting on it. Ready?"  
  
He drew in a breath to ready himself. "Yes. Let's go."  
  
The two went out into the fire. Shepard's biotic barrier absorbed the initial shots to strike it. Before it could falter Robert focused his power forward, creating the same area of reversed force he'd tried in the ExoGeni HQ. His control strained to its limits.  
  
Shepard spread her arms forward. Energies gathered before her, the purplish-blue of dark matter, joining Robert's shield of force and reflecting the attacks. "Now!"  
  
Ashley and Tali came up and tossed their grenades, one after the other. Two, then four, then six were flying into the various areas of cover, all while shooting continued to wear at their defenses. Robert felt a sharp pain in the middle of his head from the strain he was taking on. Sweat dripped down Shepard's face at her own efforts.  
  
Sickly green gas formed in clouds ahead, each grenade adding to it. The colonist shooters began choking. There was no cry of "Fall back!" as normal enemies might give. For the moment, their foes were not people; they were tools, mere things, reduced to such by the Thorian.  
  
The grenades kept getting thrown so long as the shooting continued. When it finally stopped, and several seconds passed, Robert and Shepard dropped their defenses. Robert's legs felt little better than rubber and he went to his knees. Unable to wipe the sweat from her face on account of her helmet visor, Shepard satisfied herself with a gulp of water and several bites from an energy bar. Combat biotic rations, Robert knew.  
  
"We're clear, that's all of them," said Ashley.  
  
"No." Robert got back to his feet, with effort, and took a drink from his own canteen. "There's one more."  
  
They advanced to the center of the colony. As they turned a corner around one of the prefab buildings, they found the last of the colonists still awake. Fai Dan stood with his hand on a pistol and trembling violently. "I… I was supposed to lead these people," the leader of Zhu's Hope gasped. "I… I failed them."  
  
"This wasn't your fault," Shepard said to him. "ExoGeni did this to you. It allowed this."  
  
Slowly Fai Dan's hand gripped the pistol. It came up with jerky motions, as if he were in the middle of a seizure. Robert felt his despair, his pain… and defiance. "It wants me to stop you," Fai Dan said. "To protect it. But… I won't. I won't be a… puppet!" He let out a wordless cry afterward as the pain within spiked. The spores in his brain were flooding his pain centers with sensation. "I won't!"  
  
"No!" Shepard cried, realizing his intent.  
  
Robert also sensed it. As Fai Dan brought the gun barrel to his temple, finger already tensing on the trigger, he acted. He reached out and grabbed the weapon with his abilities. The barrel rose before it fired, letting off a shot that tore skin and hair from Fai Dan's scalp, but did not hit his skull. Blood started to flow immediately from the wound.  
  
"No!" Fai Dan cried, even as Tali's arm shot forward. The gas grenade landed at his feet and went off, creating another cloud of green-tinted gas. He inhaled it and began to shudder before collapsing, unconscious.  
  
"Good job," Shepard said to them.  
  
"I could sense the intent, and the defiance behind it. The Thorian's spores are literal torture, Shepard. Mental and physical." Robert scowled. "Even the most innocent independent thought is punished. Killing himself was the only way Fai Dan saw to get out of this."  
  
"We should be careful going down," said Ashley. "If this thing's spores get into us..."  
  
"We'll keep helmets on and run on internal air," Shepard said. Her left forearm came up and her omnitool appeared. "Shepard to _Normandy_ , is my hazmat team ready?"  
  
" _We're on our way, Commander_ ," Alenko answered.  
  
"Good. Now…" She looked around until she found what the Baynhams had described. "They said the ship is blocking the path down. Let's get that crane moving to get it out of the way."  
  
"On it," said Tali.  
  
Shepard looked at Robert again. "Can you sense this thing?"  
  
Robert attempted to do just that for a moment. There was life here, below, vast and ancient, and oh so very frustrated… and afraid. "I think. It's not happy we shut down all of its puppets. And it's frightened out of its wits, I think. I would expect trouble as we go down."  
  
"Well, I can see it's smart." Shepard's expression was grim. "ExoGeni's crimes aside, this thing enslaves people. I don't take kindly to slavery."  
  
"Nor do I," Robert admitted. "And you know what I used to do for a living."  
  
"Yeah." She smiled at him. "So, ready to face another slaver?"  
  
"Always," was the answer, with a smile added to the reply.


	5. Chapter 5

In the primary hull of the _Starship Aurora_ , on Deck 12, the ship's large medbay took up several internal sections. Designed from the getgo to handle humanitarian crisis events with enough bed capacity to deal with much of its crew, the wards of the medbay were the territory of Doctor Leonard Gillam, "Leo" to his friends. Standing at about six feet in height, Leo still consciously thought of himself as African-American from over a quarter-century of life on the home Earth he shared with many of the _Aurora_ command crew, even though said designation didn't apply in many of the more advanced universes that they had encountered upon the opening of the Multiverse.  
  
For the present moment he was finishing his final scans and examination of one of those friends. The injuries endured by Caterina were prominent on the biobed scanners and further data showed on his monitool. "She'll be okay," Leo assured Angel, Julia, and Meridina. "The helmet absorbed most of the blunt force, so she only endured a concussion. We've already taken steps to ensure there is no permanent brain injury. As for her busted ribs, they'll heal with time. And all internal bleeding has been dealt with."  
  
"When is she going to wake up?" Julia asked.  
  
"Probably by tomorrow," Leo promised.  
  
Angel nodded. She remained beside her sister while Julia and Meridina followed Leo to his other patients. One, Tra'dur, was still conscious. One of Leo's nurses, the Darfuri woman Nasri, was busy tending to the Dilgar woman's broken limbs. "Captain," said Tra'dur. "Commander."  
  
"Lieutenant." Julia stood at the foot of her bed. "Good job down there."  
  
"Thank you. I was afraid the Krogan would kill her. I only wish my fire had been more accurate."  
  
"Killing Krogan is pretty hard, from what I've heard. Don't be worried about it."  
  
"When may I return to duty?"  
  
"Well, I want you on light duty for a week," said Leo. "While we treat your injured limbs and make sure the bone fractures have regenerated properly. We'll see where you are then, okay?"  
  
"Yes, Doctor." Tra'dur laid her head back and glanced toward Cat.  
  
Their last stop was the one the entire mission had been intended to ensure. Liara T'Soni remained on her back on the biobed, relaxing after her ordeal. "She's suffering from mild heat exhaustion exacerbated by lack of sufficient food and water over the last twenty-four hours." Leo shut down his omnitool as they approached Liara. "Doctor T'Soni, you'll be fine, but I'm keeping you for the next sixteen hours minimum to oversee your condition. As a precaution."  
  
"I understand, Doctor Gillam," the Asari answered. Her blue eyes shifted slightly to face Julia. "I'm afraid I'm not very familiar with your Alliance's military. You're a commanding officer?"  
  
"The commanding officer, actually," Julia clarified. "Captain Julia Andreys of the _Starship Aurora_ , at your service. This is my First Officer, Commander Meridina."  
  
"So you're in command of this ship? You seem younger than most human ship commanders I've met."  
  
"I am one of the younger ones, yes," Julia confirmed. "How are you feeling, Doctor?"  
  
"Bewildered. And tired." Liara shifted her arms and closed her eyes for a moment, as if to rest them. "I never imagined I would ever face a Geth. What are they doing beyond the Veil? And who were those Krogans they were working with?"  
  
"They are working for a rogue Spectre, Saren Arterius," Julia replied. She eyed Liara carefully for signs of recognition, but there were no noticeable tells to her. Meridina gave no indication of falsehood being sensed. "With them he launched an attack on the Dorei colony on Adrana and on the Systems Alliance colony of New Eden."  
  
"And then he comes after me. First worlds with old ruins, then an archaeologist." Liara frowned. "But why would he want me? I'm not the best archaeologist in the galaxy. Many consider me to be foolish for advancing the Reaper theory. I can't be his best choice."  
  
Julia and Meridina exchanged looks. Liara's reaction to this next part would be telling. "Doctor, we have uncovered evidence that Saren is not working alone," Meridina stated. "He has a conspirator on his side, one with immense resources to add to his own. That is the reason why he came after you."  
  
"But, I don't have any enemies…" She still seemed to not understand.  
  
"No. But…" Meridina stopped. She glanced toward Julia.  
  
"Doctor, I'm sorry," Julia said. "But our evidence indicates Matriarch Benezia is the one working with Saren."  
  
There was clear surprise on Liara's face. "Mother… no, why would she… why would she work with any Spectre, let alone a rogue one? She has always been an advocate of peace!"  
  
"We are uncertain as to her motives," Meridina stated. "But Saren was in her company last year when we met her for a diplomatic meeting, and we have audio evidence that she is in collusion with him concerning the attacks. They seem to be working toward the return of the Reapers."  
  
Liara's eyes widened. "What? The return of… but that's… that's insane! The Reapers annihilated the Protheans at their height! Why would they want to bring them back?! What possible... " Horror dawned on her. "Could this be some form of conspiracy against the Multiverse?"  
  
"I'm not sure that's their motive," Julia said. "Nobody's sure of it. But we're tasked with stopping them, and finding and debriefing you is part of that mission."  
  
Seeing how agitated Liara was, Leo stepped between her and his commanders. "For the benefit of my patient, this should continue later."  
  
"We have to stop them," Liara insisted. "Any way I can help…"  
  
"I understand, Doctor," Julia said. "And we'll discuss that later. For now, let's follow Doctor Gillam's advice. We'll leave you be for now and talk later."  
  
Liara's head descended back to her pillow. Disbelief and horror still showed on her expression.  
  
Julia and Meridina left Leo to tend to work, or as the occasion required, meet Violeta as she entered the ward to speak to her about Cat's condition. They walked until they had the privacy of a corner. "I sense no deception," Meridina said. "She is having trouble grasping her mother's complicity, but she recognizes we are not lying."  
  
"I don't blame her for not wanting to believe something so terrible about her mother," Julia answered. "So she's not working with them?"  
  
"That I am sure of."  
  
"Then the question is, why did Saren send troops to capture her? Was she intended to be a hostage? Or did he need her for something?"  
  
"Either is possible, I believe…"  
  
Their omnitools chimed. Blue light appeared above the back of their left hands. Julia pressed the light and said, "Andreys here."  
  
" _Captain, we have received a report. Saren's forces have been spotted on the colony of Feros_ ," Jarod said. " _The_ Normandy _is already there, but they haven't sent any updates._ "  
  
"Set a course for the Mass Relay and get us the necessary Relay path to Feros, Warp 9.2."  
  
" _Yes ma'am. We're putting in coordinates now._ "  
  
By the time the two women left the medbay, the _Aurora_ warped away from Therum in a flash of light.  
  
  
  
  
After a short descent from the Zhu's Hope colony, Shepard led the squad into what looked like the central chamber of the tower. An open center reminded Robert of the interior of some older towers he'd seen, where the floors were along the walls while there was nothing in the middle, nothing but a long drop to the bottom of what might be the tower itself.  
  
In the middle of that center, suspended by long cables of organic plant matter attached to the walls, was the Thorian.  
  
A sickly, pale green was the primary color on the alien creature's body, marked by what looked almost like eyes in pale color facing toward them. A mass of tendrils hung from the bottom, and three larger, longer ones were formed at at the front, as if to mark the spot of a mouth.  
  
A heart. That was what the Thorian made Robert think of. A big, ghastly heart with its aorta as the thick cables holding it in place.  
  
"It knows we're here," he said to the others.  
  
"Ugly son of a…"  
  
Before Ashley could finish that statement, the Thorian's "mouth" opened. An orifice around the three tendrils distended enough to allow a form to begin emerging, coated in mucus. Disgust was the primary feeling among the others Robert felt at the sight of the humanoid figure emerging. The figure stood, revealed as an Asari in a dark suit. An Asari with green skin. She spoke blandly, and clearly with another's voice. "I have watched you closely, Shepard."  
  
"Then you know I'm not very happy with you," Shepard said.  
  
"I know why you have come. Saren." There was a moment of silence, in which nobody spoke. "Yes. I would treat with you. I would bargain as Saren did. I alone can tell you what Saren wished from me."  
  
"But you're not just going to tell us, are you?" Shepard asked.  
  
"As I said, I would treat with you. I will give you what I gave Saren. In exchange, I ask you to leave me and my thralls be."  
  
Robert narrowed his eyes. The Thorian was… not being entirely deceptive. He could sense the creature was thinking of betraying them as Saren had betrayed it, but it was also scared. Scared that Shepard would actually succeed in killing it. When Shepard glanced toward him he nodded. "It's being genuine. Mostly. It's too scared of you to stab you in the back. It's afraid it'll lose."  
  
"You are a strange one," the Thorian said through the Asari. "It has been aeons since I experienced a being with your power. Are you the true leader here?"  
  
"No," Robert said. "I'm just a member of the Commander's unit, by invitation."  
  
"But your power... " The thing seemed uncertain before returning its attention to Shepard. "Very well. What say you, Shepard? Will you make the agreement?"  
  
"I have a counter proposal," said Shepard. "You tell us what Saren wanted and release the colonists you've taken over, and we'll leave you alone. We'll seal your chamber back up and you can live down here in complete safety."  
  
"Unacceptable," the Thorian protested through its Asari puppet. "They are my thralls. My tools. Your people gave them to me willingly."  
  
"Those people were criminals. They had no right to give you anyone," Shepard retorted. "If you want a deal, release them."  
  
There was no reaction for several moments. Robert could feel the anger, frustration, the terror of the Thorian. It considered submission. It was afraid of them. It knew they could kill it.  
  
But it was also afraid it would be killed anyway. Stripped of thralls, it had no defense, only the word of other beings, of aliens, whom had already proven untrustworthy.  
  
In that moment, Robert sensed more of the history of this proud being. Through millennia the Thorian had never negotiated with anything. It always took, from the Protheans, and from species before that.  
  
"Would you sacrifice your future for a mere handful of your people?" the Thorian asked. "I have seen the things Saren would call down upon you. They destroyed those who came before you. They will destroy you. I can be more useful than they."  
  
"What you're doing is wrong," Shepard replied. "Thinking beings have a right to their own will and thoughts. You've taken that from your thralls."  
  
"You torture them," Robert added. "I've sensed it. You inflict terrible pain on them for even the slightest independent thought. You make their existence a literal living death."  
  
Right then and there Robert knew they wouldn't convince it. He sensed the disbelief the Thorian had at their argument. It simply couldn't comprehend the principles he and Shepard were speaking of. It had no concept of engaging with them as fellow sapients, it couldn't even conceive of that kind of equality. All other creatures, thinking or otherwise, only existed to be its thralls.  
  
When the attack came, it was sudden. The Asari puppet lunged forward with hate in her previously lifeless eyes. Shepard's shotgun snapped up and thundered. A solid slug blew a massive hole through the Asari's neck and it collapsed.  
  
Ashley unloaded her assault rifle on the Thorian. The slivers of material, accelerated to supersonic velocity, ripped into dense, thick flesh, but to little effect. "It's got some sort of organic armor within its upper layer," Tali said, observing her omnitool.  
  
In the distance, they heard shrieks.  
  
"It's sending those plant-husks toward us," Robert said. "And I think it's got more of those Asari to fight us with. I can feel the emptiness of everything that's not us or the Thorian." He touched a hand to his forehead. "It's like a cold spot in the Flow of Life. No sensations, no thoughts, just an empty shell for the Thorian…"  
  
"Well, let's just shoot it until we blow through the armor," Ashley said. "Or set it on fire."  
  
"It'll take forever," Tali said. "We can't kill it that way."  
  
"The trunks," said Shepard. Her eyes were already tracking the thick, aorta-like cords emerging from the top of the Thorian. "We sever those." She raised her shotgun and fired a slug into one of the trunks. A loud, animal sound filled the chamber, but the cable remained intact.  
  
"It may be weaker at the other end," Tali suggested.  
  
"Now I wish I'd accepted Lucy's offer," Robert muttered. However strong the Thorian's organic hide was, he suspected a lightsaber would cut through it given enough time.  
  
"You can regret your ego later, Robert," Shepard said. "We've got incoming."  
  
He turned and saw what she meant. A whole host of the Thorian's husks were coming their way. He raised his pistol and started firing. At the setting he was using, the pulses were literally setting fire to the husks, although they didn't seem to pay attention to this.  
  
Ashley switched to a shotgun, one of the Katana models, while Shepard continued to use her N7 Crusader prototype and Tali her Scimitar. The solid slugs of Shepard's weapon smashed the torsos and heads of the creatures; the sprays of flechette shot from the other two shredded them. Robert's shots set them on fire. "Go!" Shepard urged.  
  
"This way!" Tali and Shepard took the lead. Tali's scans led them up a path where even more of the husks were coming. Enough that they would have stopped them cold if Robert hadn't thrown them out of the way with a wild, barely-controlled burst of force.  
  
Partway up the level, they found one of the trunks holding the Thorian in place. The shotguns of the others thundered while Robert used more projected force to throw the Thorian's husks back. He felt the creature's panic spike, and for good reason. Tali proved correct; at this connection point the cable wasn't as dense, and repeated blasts from the firearms of his allies completely severed it in about ten seconds. A horrible wail filled the air, accompanied by sharp pain and rage. "We pissed it off," Robert observed with a hint of snark.  
  
"Oh well, I knew I'd be pissing people off when I took the job," Shepard remarked, answering snark with snark. "Just a sign I'm doing something right. Now move!"  
  
More Thorian husks came at them at the top of the ascent. Robert didn't need to use his powers; the shotguns of the others cleared them out in a few shots. They moved ahead to the portal leading to the next trunk…  
  
Robert felt the familiar ripple of biotics and shouted, "Look out!"  
  
A singularity pulse flew ahead and went off over the squad. The dark matter gripped the others and pulled them from the ground. Tali went flying into one wall, Ashley into another. Shepard flailed in mid-air, trying to get her bearings.  
  
Ahead of them, beside the second trunk, was another Asari, literal clone of the first. Whatever process the Thorian used to recreate her, it kept at least some of the biotics intact. More dark energy gathered.  
  
Robert threw his hand up. Solid force slammed into the Asari and sent her flying back. Using the moment this bought him, he used the same to grip Shepard and pull her clear of the singularity. This got her out of range just before it exploded in a burst of dark matter, enough force that there was lethal danger in the prospect. Shepard rolled when she hit the ground and brought her shotgun up just in time to shoot the Asari as she recovered. The clone shrieked and collapsed, her right thigh a mess of ripped flesh and muscle. Shepard stood and put another slug into the clone's head to put her down for good.  
  
"Ugh. I hate those." Tali got up while Shepard went to work on the trunk, shooting her shotgun into the end repeatedly. "One moment. I need to make sure… ah, good, my suit is still intact. No punctures."  
  
"Fighting biotics is always a pain in the ass." Ashley got back to her feet. "No offense meant, ma'am."  
  
"None taken." Shepard fired again, Tali joined her, and after a couple of shots the trunk was ripped away.  
  
The Thorian screeched again. Robert felt its sheer terror and the rage it was fueling. It realized it was likely going to die and was desperately trying to gather its remaining husks to overwhelm them. "We'd better keep going," he said. "It's calling in everything."  
  
"Double time it!" Shepard led the way yet again.  
  
They moved around the outer circle of the chamber, blowing away husks as they encountered them. With a wave of his hand Robert sent an entire group of them flying through the air and into the Thorian, pulsing with only one of its large aortic trunks still linking it to the wall of the chamber. Its fury and fear only grew with each moment.  
  
"Another Asari, up ahead," he warned, feeling this one also preparing a biotic attack. Ahead were husks gathered into a barricade of bodies, trying to hold them from the opening ahead and the last node.  
  
Shepard's arm lit up with biotic power. Her arm came up and a shockwave of dark matter moved ahead and slammed through the husks. Tali and Ashley opened up with their guns, firing until the weapons overheated, adding to the carnage. With the way still blocked by those left, Robert let loose with the force inside him again. His control was bad, but it was the husks that suffered for it, as he hit them hard enough that some were literally blown apart by the power he released. This final attack opened the way for them all.  
  
The Asari was waiting on the other end. She released her biotic power at Shepard in a bright, large pulse of biotic power.  
  
But she was too late.  
  
Biotic energy wreathed Shepard's body and shot her forward like a cannon projectile. The biotic pulse thrown by the Asari fell apart at the impact when Shepard struck it with her charge. She slammed into the Asari and sent it flying back into the partition wall at the opposite end of the section. Ashley, Tali, and Robert opened up on the Asari before it could get up, their shots ripping through flesh until the Asari toppled.  
  
Immediately Tali went to the opposite portal while Ashley turned and faced the way they'd come. The final trunk holding the Thorian was here and vulnerable.  
  
Now despair gripped the Thorian. Robert felt an instinctive plea rise within it. _Mercy! Mercy mercy mercy pleasedonotdestroymemercymercymercy!_ "Wait," he said.  
  
Shepard had her weapon up. She looked at him pensively. "What is it?"  
  
"It's… it's begging," he said. "It wants mercy."  
  
_Do not want to die nodienodieMERCYHUMANSMERCYPLEASE…_  
  
"It can hear us, right?"  
  
At that Robert sensed an acknowledgement. _Understand yes understand please mercy do not want to end!_ He nodded.  
  
"Alright." She turned and looked down toward the Thorian's core below. "I'll let you live under these terms. Cooperate with us against Saren, release your thralls, and swear never to make more. Do we have a deal?"  
  
The creature understood. _Yes, a deal. Mercy. Do not want to die. Mercy and I will obey_. _Will give the Cipher Saren wished._  
  
"It says yes."  
  
Shepard lowered her weapon. "Then we're almost done here."  
  
Robert nodded in agreement.  
  
A feeling came over him then. It was a small one. For the most part the Thorian was relieved. It would live. It would not end. It would release the colonists.  
  
But there was another sense, deep within it. A sense of defiant rage. Robert focused upon it. He wanted to see what it meant. He felt through the Flow of Life and tried to sense the future from this point on.  
  
He saw the Thorian cooperate. An Asari released from a pod, with the Cipher, and the colonists' spores going inactive. It was sealed away. Left to its own devices.  
  
And then… it would brood. It would _plan_.  
  
It was a flash for Robert, a brief image, but he saw it and knew what it meant.  
  
In that moment, he knew the only thing he could do with that knowledge, and he acted with more instinct than thought. He reached up with his hands, and the power within him, and gripped the last trunk. He ignored the sudden surge of terror from the Thorian, that realization of what was about to happen.  
  
He ignored the _MERCY_ that it again pleaded, and with one solid yank, ripped the trunk free from the wall.  
  
The Thorian fell. It fell screaming, cursing them, hating them, so much hate…  
  
...and then there was nothing.  
  
"It's dead," Robert muttered. "Gone." He pulled off his helmet and wiped at his forehead with the other hand.  
  
The others were looking at him. "Why?" Shepard asked. It was a simple question, but he felt the incredulity and anger behind it. "It agreed to work with us. To let everyone go."  
  
"It did. But I sensed what it felt. What it planned, what it would do. Right now it just wanted to live." Robert moved his hand through his shoulder-length dark hair, disheveled as it was, and coated with sweat. "But it would never have forgiven. Next time it would have been quieter and more subtle. It would have taken the colonists over again, if they were still here, and exposed even more to the spores. Bit by bit. More suffering. More torture. I… I couldn't let it do that to those people. I had to stop it. And that was the only way."  
  
"That works for me," Ashley said. She secured her gun at the small of her back. "So why are you so pale?"  
  
"I killed it with my powers," Robert said. "I… I've never killed a living being like that before. Not with my _swevyra_ , my life powers. And not even in the heat of battle, just… just killing it… while it was begging for mercy." He shook his head. "I'm supposed to uphold Life, and I just killed the only being of its kind in all of creation."  
  
"It sounds like it didn't give you a choice." Shepard put a hand on his shoulder. "So…"  
  
Something made a disgusting liquid sound nearby, in the next section. They went on to find a pod made of the same material as the Thorian starting to fall open. Once again an Asari figure fell out, but this time she was lavender in complexion. Cords dangling from the inside of the pod gave the impression of having been plugged into the Asari. She went down to a knee when she hit the ground before standing up. She shook her head as the others approached. "I'm… I'm free." She looked to Shepard. "I… thank you. Thank you for releasing me."  
  
"Are you alright? Who are you?" Shepard asked.  
  
"I will be fine." Green eyes looked them over. "I just need some time…" After shaking her head again, she seemed to remember the other question. "And my name is Shiala. I serve…" She stopped. A painful, betrayed look crossed her face. "I _served_ Matriarch Benezia. When she joined with Saren, so did I. He gave me to the Thorian."  
  
"Why did you let him?" Tali asked. "Why would Benezia let him do that to you?"  
  
"He… he has a way of assuring the loyalty of his followers. To make us completely loyal. I was a willing slave until he gave me to the Thorian in exchange for knowledge he needed. Somehow… I don't feel his influence anymore. I don't…" She started to topple.  
  
Robert stepped up and helped Shiala steady herself. He could sense the hurt within her, not to mention the weakness. The Thorian had only given her enough nutrients to keep her alive while dormant. Now that she was active again, her body was starving for energy. "We can continue this in the Colony," he said. "Right now you need food and rest."  
  
Shepard nodded. "He's right." She activated her omnitool. "Shepard to _Normandy_ hazmat team, we're bringing up a survivor. I need levo-compatible rations and water waiting."  
  
" _Acknowledged_ ," was the reply.  
  
"Let's get back to the colony and get you situated, Shiala." Shepard stepped up and helped Robert steady her. "We've got a lot of questions for you."  
  
  
  
  
By the time Shiala was ready to continue speaking, normalcy was starting to return to Zhu's Hope. Some of the colonists were waking up. The spores were still in their bodies, but without the Thorian to control those spores, they were completely free of any pain or control. The Baynhams and other researchers from ExoGeni arrived - although with no sign of Jeong and his immediate followers - to help the wounded and to examine the dormant spores.  
  
For their part, members of the _Normandy_ crew were helping with the post-battle repairs to the colony. The exceptions were Shepard and her squad. They were in one of the residential pods in the prefab housing, quietly waiting for Shiala to finish her meal.  
  
"I am ready," she finally said. She gently moved the mostly-finished meal to a waiting tray beside her seat.  
  
"Start at the beginning," Shepard said. "Why is Benezia working for Saren?"  
  
"A few years ago, Saren came to Benezia's attention. She recognized he was a formidable man and an asset to the Council, but feared his hatred of Humans would lead him astray. So she approached him and offered to guide and assist him. Saren agreed, and soon, the Matriarch and all of her followers, myself included, found ourselves in the Traverse, working with Saren. It seemed to be normal work for a Citadel Spectre at the time. Intercepting arms shipments, dealing with criminal elements, supporting research programs. Matriarch Benezia even founded a corporation with Saren for research on Noveria."  
  
"So we've heard," Shepard said. "But what I want to know is what you meant by Saren being able to ensure the complete loyalty of his followers."  
  
"Well… it's not Saren himself. It's his ship."  
  
"A ship?" asked Kaidan. "How could a ship cause you to blindly follow him?"  
  
"I'm… I'm not sure," Shiala admitted. "He has a dreadnought he calls _Sovereign_. It's not like any ship I've ever seen. And being aboard _Sovereign_ , it gets to you. Over days, maybe weeks, your thoughts change. I can see that now, but at the time none of us realized it. It just… everything Saren said made sense. Saying no to him didn't. Even Benezia couldn't resist forever."  
  
"So what did Saren want from the Thorian?" Tali asked.  
  
"Something called the Cipher," Robert said. "That's what I felt it think."  
  
"The Prothean beacons were made from a Prothean mindset," Shiala explained. "Language, and the way it was used, that was unique to the Protheans. Without it, you can't make sense of what the beacons are showing you."  
  
"Yeah, I know what you're talking about," Shepard said. "I still can't figure out what the beacon visions actually mean."  
  
"Good luck finding a Prothean to interpret all of this," Garrus said.  
  
"Normally, you would be right," Shiala said. "But the Thorian has been around for many millennia. It was here when the Protheans settle Feros long ago. Even they fell victim to it. Because of its Prothean thralls, the Thorian learned their language and way of thinking."  
  
"And that's what Saren was after," Shepard finished for her.  
  
"Yes." Shiala nodded. "By offering me to the Thorian, Saren was able to get the Cipher himself."  
  
"And now that the Thorian's dead, no more Cipher." Robert sighed at that. He thought back to that moment, when the clarity of the future he saw led him to that choice...  
  
"I was the conduit for that exchange," Shiala informed them. "So I still have the Cipher." She looked to Robert. "Your mental skills should help you form a strong link with my mind. I can give it to you."  
  
"I'm not the best candidate for it," Robert said. "Shepard had the contact with the beacon. The information's in her head."  
  
"I see." Shiala turned her attention to Shepard. "I have enough strength to make the transfer to your mind, Commander. Are you willing?"  
  
"I am."  
  
"Are you sure about this, Commander?" Ashley asked. "What if she's still under Saren's control?"  
  
"I'm pretty sure she's not," Robert interjected.  
  
"But you can't be certain, can you?"  
  
"It'll be fine, Sergeant," Shepard assured her. Shepard faced Shiala. "How does this work?"  
  
"I will bond with you mentally. Please, relax, and stay still." The Asari reached forward and placed her hands on Shepard's head, a hand for each side of her face. "Embrace eternity," Shiala murmured.  
  
While not a telepath in his own right, Robert sensed their connection through the Flow of Life. It was not a deep one. Shiala lacked the strength to form one, and the purpose didn't require it. For several moments they remained in that pose until Shiala fell back into her chair. She was patently exhausted.  
  
Shepard put a hand to her head before running her fingers through the red locks of her hair. "The vision's… it's more intact now. I can understand it. It was a warning. But it's still not entirely together."  
  
"Since the beacon was destroyed, maybe you didn't get the entire message," Robert suggested.  
  
"Then we need to find another beacon," said Kaidan. "Maybe that will tell you what you need to know."  
  
"Either way, we still have some cleanup to do."  
  
At Garrus' remark, Shiala nodded quietly. "I won't stop you if you decide to kill me. Honestly, I'd rather die than risk being Saren's puppet again."  
  
"No," Shepard said, her tone forceful. "You're a victim as well, of Saren and of the Thorian." She glanced at the others on the team. But none challenged her assertion.  
  
"Then I am yours to command, Commander Shepard," Shiala said. "I am no longer one of Benezia's followers, and I doubt another matriarch will take me into their entourage."  
  
"Why not stay here?" Shepard suggested. "Zhu's Hope will need to be rebuilt. You have talents the colonists could use, and with what you've been through, the colonists will know what it was like."  
  
Shiala seemed to consider it for a moment. "I see the wisdom in the suggestion. If they will have me, I will stay here."  
  
"We'll let Fai Dan know." Shepard stood. "In the meantime, get some more rest. There'll be plenty of work waiting for you tomorrow."  
  
  
  
  
Fai Dan proved more than accepting when the offer was relayed by Shepard, with Robert accompanying her. "This Asari is as much a victim as we are," the colony's leader said. "She'll be welcome."  
  
Shepard nodded. "And how are you?"  
  
"I am…" Fai Dan shook his head. "I failed my people, Commander. I should have realized what ExoGeni was doing. I should have protected them."  
  
"They misled you," Shepard said to him. "You can't blame yourself."  
  
Fai Dan didn't seem too convinced. He glanced toward Robert next. "Thank you for saving my life," he said. He put a hand to his bandaged head. "I just wanted the pain to be over with."  
  
"I know. But I couldn't let you die, not when you could be saved," Robert answered.  
  
"Again, thank you both." Fai Dan's eyes narrowed. "If you'll please excuse me."  
  
Robert sensed the resentment and righteous anger flare up inside the man. He and Shepard turned and noticed what Fai Dan had already seen. Ethan Jeong walked into the colony. Despite everything, he still gave off the air of a man who owned everything and everyone present. The ExoGeni bureaucrat noticed Fai Dan approaching and raised his hand to welcome him.  
  
Fai Dan responded by punching him. " _You bastard!_ " Fai Dan cried even as Jeong fell on his rear end.  
  
Shepard chuckle. "Nice punch," she said.  
  
"Yeah." Robert smiled softly. "Reminds me of Angel."  
  
"It should." Shepard rubbed at her jaw. "Your ex-girlfriend has a wicked right hook."  
  
"I'm probably lucky I haven't learned that the hard way."  
  
That drew a laugh from Shepard. "Very lucky," she agreed. When she saw Robert's eyes grow distant, she asked, "Are you still thinking about the Thorian?"  
  
"Visions of the future… they don't have to be set in stone," Robert said. "I've seen things turn out differently. I… I shouldn't have killed the Thorian, Shepard. It was a unique being. Given time and direction, if it could have been persuaded to recognize other sapient beings, the Thorian was a unique being that could have contributed something to the diversity of life in the Multiverse. Now it's dead. And its kind are gone forever." He shook his head. "Because of me. I killed it without a moment's hesitation because of what it might have become."  
  
"That thing was never going to co-exist," Shepard answered. "It saw us as potential tools. Things to take over and control for its own whims and needs."  
  
"But what if I was wrong?" Robert asked. "What if I killed a being that could have been redeemed?"  
  
"Some can't," Shepard answered. "I wish it were otherwise. But sometimes, you just have to shoot the bastard."  
  
"Including Saren?"  
  
They exchanged a glance. Both knew the answer to that.  
  
Then Shepard set a hand on Robert's shoulder. "You're a kind person, and a good man. And if I find the fact you want to save everyone to be occasionally annoying, well, we can't all be perfect. Except me, of course."  
  
At that, Robert laughed. His laughter only ended when Shepard's omnitool activated. Shepard answered the call. "Go ahead."  
  
" _Commander, I just thought I'd let you know that the_ Aurora _signaled. They're on their way. And they have Benezia's daughter._ "  
  
"Looks like we're 2 for 2 against Saren now," Robert mused. He didn't bother keeping the happiness out of his voice at getting to see his loved ones on the _Aurora_ soon.  
  
"Let them know we'll be waiting for them, and relief supplies will be useful."  
  
" _Yes ma'am_."  
  
  
  
  
The _Aurora_ was through the Mass Relay and nearly to Feros when the call went out for an upcoming meeting. Lucy, just finishing lunch, stood from her table and picked up her uniform jacket before going to the door. It chimed just before she reached it so she stopped and said, "Open."  
  
The door did so. Ensign Talara was standing outside.  
  
"I sensed it was you," Lucy said. "Anything wrong?"  
  
"I… do not think so. But I feel different now," Talara said. "Ever since Therum…"  
  
"You will." Lucy attempted a comforting smile. "The same thing happened to me two years ago, Talara. I called on my connection to the Flow of Life and since then, it's been here. That's how it feels, right?"  
  
"Like a part of me that's been asleep my whole life," Talara agreed. "But it won't quiet. I don't know how to handle this."  
  
"You'll need training." Lucy checked the time. She had to get going to be at the meeting, so she continued walking. Talara followed. "I'll talk with Meridina and see about when she can…"  
  
"Why can't it be you?"  
  
Talara's question caused Lucy to stop and turn. "What?"  
  
"Why can't you train me, Lieutenant?" Talara asked. "Commander Meridina is the First Officer, and she has so many responsibilities as it is. You're the one who goes into the field now. I… I feel like you should be my trainer."  
  
Many feelings went through Lucy at that prospect. She was surprised, frightened, humbled, and flattered all at once. Worst off all, though, was the small bit of uncertainty she felt. _Can I train someone?_  
  
The prospect that she would one day have to was always there. Half the reason the Order of Swenya tolerated her continued training outside of their authority was the assumption she and Robert would found their own order for Humans with _swevyra_. But it never seemed she actually would start training anyone. _And Talara's not even a Human_ …  
  
"Is… is my species a problem?" Talara asked. Lucy frowned with surprise. "I know you have no issues with aliens, Lieutenant, please don't assume the worst of what I'm saying. But it seems like…"  
  
"...like you're already really good at picking up sentiments," Lucy finished for her. "No, that was… just an idle thought. The Order of Swenya always assumed I'd start teaching other Humans."  
  
"Oh. So… you're saying Meridina has to teach me?"  
  
"No. I'm… ugh." Lucy rubbed at her forehead. "I'm just… I've not given a lot of thought about teaching before, Talara. I have to…" She sighed and forced a smile to her face. "I'll think about it. About what we should do, what's best for us. Maybe I am meant to be your teacher, but this… it's important that we get it right. Important for both of us."  
  
"Okay." Talara nodded.  
  
"That said, you will need to learn control, so as soon as we're done with this meeting, I want you to meet me back at my quarters so I can give you a few meditation and control exercises. We'll see about the rest once you've got some control down…"  
  
"Of course, Lieutenant," said Talara. "I will be waiting."  
  
"Good." Lucy continued on, worried she might end up late now. As she continued on, she called back, "And while we're off duty, it's Lucy, not Lieutenant!"  
  
"Yes Lieu… Lucy, ma'am!" Talara shouted back, smiling as she did. This felt.. right to her. She moved on herself, waiting eagerly for whatever Lucy could teach her.  
  
  
  
  
Shepard, Robert, and the rest of Shepard's team and command crew arrived in the Main Conference Room to join the _Aurora_ and _Koenig_ command crews. Caterina was not present, causing a pang of worry in Robert. An Asari, presumably Doctor T'Soni, was seated with Julia and Meridina.  
  
"Saren left Feros before we even showed up," Shepard said to the assembled. "The Geth attack was supposed to kill the Thorian so it couldn't share the Cipher with me."  
  
"So we're back to square one on that," Julia noted. "What about the Cipher? What did it do?"  
  
"The visions are a little clearer now," Shepard said. "But I still can't understand what they're meant to tell us."  
  
A hand went up. "Um, may I?" Everyone looked toward a very sheepish Liara. She blushed slightly.  
  
"Go ahead Doctor," Julia said.  
  
"Thank you, Captain." Liara faced Shepard again. "A Prothean beacon downloaded images and memories into your mind? That is quite extraordinary."  
  
"So I'm told," Shepard said. "All it gave me was a headache."  
  
"But it does prove the Reaper Theory is true, doesn't it?" Liara asked.  
  
"I believe it does. Especially after Commander Meridina and I shared the visions from the beacon and from the uploaded Adranian mind she encountered."  
  
"I have studied the Protheans for decades," Liara said. "Maybe I could tell you more, if I saw the visions?"  
  
"Are you sure you are strong enough?" Meridina asked her. "You are still recovering from your time on Therum."  
  
"Yes, I know, but Doctor Gillam's treatments have helped. I believe I can manage it."  
  
"I've got no objections," said Shepard. "You wouldn't be the first Asari in my brain."  
  
Julia glanced to Leo and Doctor Allen-Epstein, the CMO of the _Koenig_. "She appears healthy enough," said the latter in a German accent. "Doctor, she is your patient."  
  
"No harm, as long as we observe it," Leo replied.  
  
"Then let us do so." Liara stood and stepped around the table where the _Aurora_ officers were seated. Shepard left her seat and the two met near the holotank in the middle of the conference room. "Are you ready, Commander?" When Shepard nodded Liara put her hands to Shepard's head. As Shiala did, she seemed to focus her thoughts, and Shepard's, with the phrase "Embrace eternity."  
  
Robert, Meridina, and Lucy all felt something of the meeting of minds. Liara's face twisted into a pained grimace as the images of slaughter and massacre filled her mind. Finally she broke away. She and Shepard both seemed to wobble. Meridina, Jarod, Robert, and Kaidan all got to their feet, as did the three doctors present, all ready to assist.  
  
But it was soon evident it wasn't necessary. "Oh Goddess, that was horrible," Liara said. "I should be happy I'm right, but I can't."  
  
"Will you be alright?" Shepard asked her.  
  
"I will… I simply need to sit." She didn't resist Epstein and Leo bringing her back to the table. "I'm afraid I didn't see anything familiar," she admitted.  
  
"So as th' Captain said, we're back t' square one," Scotty murmured. "Ye didnae recover anythin' hintin' where Saren's base is?"  
  
"We didn't." Robert shook his head.  
  
"I did find some data in the HQ tower," Tali said. She activated her omnitool and used it to relay information to the holotank in the room. It came alive and displayed the galaxy, zooming in one particular cluster around one of the major Mass Relays. "The Geth are gathering forces in the Armstrong Nebula. Saren may be planning to launch a major invasion somewhere."  
  
"If we hit them, maybe we can set him back," Angel suggested.  
  
"It could work," Julia agreed. "Our ships could split up and sweep the Cluster. If we hit any ground facilities they've set up, maybe we'll find enough information to justify sending the fleets in."  
  
"Or at least disrupt Saren's plans," Shepard agreed. "The _Normandy_ will go in first and scout out possible attack locations."  
  
"Agreed."  
  
"What about Noveria?" asked Garrus. "Shiala confirmed that they're up to something there."  
  
Liara looked up toward him. "Shiala? My mother's follower? You've spoken to her?"  
  
"Saren used her as a pawn to trick the Thorian," Shepard explained. "Somehow the Thorian's spores seem to have cleared whatever control Saren had over her, so we were able to debrief her."  
  
"Did she talk about my mother? Did she say why Benezia would be working with Saren?"  
  
"She says Saren has a way of securing the loyalty of anyone who follows him," Robert answered. "A ship called _Sovereign_."  
  
"Apparently the ship does something to you. It alters your mind until you're completely loyal to Saren," Shepard said, elaborating.  
  
"I find that really confusing," Tali said. "How can a ship do that to someone? I understand falling for ships…"  
  
"Dinnae be t' surprised if it be true, lass," Scotty said to her. "In my time, I've seen stranger."  
  
"We have encountered a vessel fueled by a crystal bonded to the Flow of Life," Meridina added. "If another such vessel exists, it could potentially have a similar power, but bent toward mental manipulation and other abilities."  
  
"Or it could be some form of physiological attack," Epstein proposed. "Technology exists to affect brainwaves and other neural mechanisms, perhaps the ship can cause a person's willingness to resist to decline? Or some other form of mental programming?"  
  
"Like a Darglan brainwave infuser, or the Earth Alliance's mindwipe technology," Jarod agreed. "But engineered to alter personality instead of simply uploading data as brainwave patterns or erasing someone's memories."  
  
"Either way, it's a potential threat," Julia noted. "Jarod, I'd like you to help our medical teams consider possible countermeasures. As for Noveria, I'm told there are political issues with just showing up, even for Spectres. That said, Admiral Maran and President Morgan are already working on that end. At the very least, we might be able to prepare the way for you, Commander Shepard, to best use your Spectre status without blowback."  
  
"A good idea. In the meantime, let's prepare for the Armstrong Nebula sweep? And I'd like to give my crew the rest of the day to enjoy some R &R on your ship and its facilities, if you don't mind?"  
  
Julia smiled. "We're ready to have them. Commander Meridina can help you secure holodeck privileges if they're desired, and I'll let Hargert know to break out the tubs of sausage stew. Anything else?" Julia waited to see if anyone spoke on something. When none did, she stood. "Then we're all dismissed."  
  
  
  
  
When the meeting was over Robert approached Lucy. She sensed him coming without looking, allowing her to turn as he reached earshot. "What is it?" she asked. "I can sense you want to ask something, but you're not sure about it."  
  
"More like I hadn't wanted to do it this way," Robert admitted. "But on Feros, there were points where I could have ended a fight before someone got hurt, or nearly so." His mind flashed back to the fight with the Thorian, and how Shepard and Tali had both risked injury because he didn't have the tool that would have defeated the Thorian right away.  
  
Lucy sensed those mental images. And she knew right away what he was going to ask. "Did you bring the parts?" she asked.  
  
"I left them at Transporter Station 2," he answered.  
  
"And you're sure?" Lucy's expression betrayed her concern. "You wanted to do this by yourself. To improve your control."  
  
"I still do," Robert admitted. He shook his head. "But it's selfish to put that ahead of the people I'm working with. I can't let Shepard or one of her team get hurt because I'm too prideful to ask for help."  
  
"That's as good a reason as any," Lucy said. She smiled at him. "Let's go get your weapon made. And in exchange, you can give me some advice."  
  
"Oh?" asked Robert.  
  
"It's not difficult. I just want to know how good a teacher you think I'll be."  
  
  
  
  
When Caterina woke up, she felt like a Looney Tunes character who'd just had an anvil dropped on her head. The lights of the medbay were painful at first, and she blinked several times before she could keep her eyes open and not feel like she was staring into a sunlamp.  
  
She became conscious of her hand being held. Cat turned her neck and saw it was Violeta at her bedside, holding her right hand. Violeta's purple eyes opened fully at seeing Cat was awake. A smile crossed her lovely face. "You're awake."  
  
"My head is killing me," Cat moaned. "And I feel like an elephant tried to sit on my chest."  
  
"It should. That Krogan hit you hard." Violeta brought Cat's hand up to her lips, letting her kiss Cat's finger. It was a pleasant sensation that distracted from the pain. "They're treating you for a concussion. Your head slammed into something. If you hadn't been in a helmet…"  
  
The image of her skull breaking like an egg being smashed against the counter briefly flashed into Cat's mind. It was unpleasant. "Yeah," she said. "I guess it was a good thing Therum was so damn hot."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Did anyone else get hurt? Did we get Doctor T'Soni out?"  
  
"We did," Violeta assured her. "You did it. You saved her from that Krogan too."  
  
Silence passed between the two. Violeta was clearly agonizing over something. "Maybe I should say no," she finally said.  
  
"To the promotion, the transfer?"  
  
"Yeah. Maybe… I don't know. It's everything I've been building up to. Everything I dreamed. But then you came along and..."  
  
"Don't give up your dreams," Cat said to her. "Not for me."  
  
"Even if it takes me away from you?"  
  
"I love you too much to let you sacrifice everything for me," Cat answered. "It's sort of funny, I mean. In a sad way. For me to keep you, I'd have to want to see you hurt. And then I wouldn't actually love you."  
  
"Love can be selfish," Violeta reminded her.  
  
"I'm not sure that's real love," Cat answered. "Real love is selfless."  
  
"Oh God, you are the sweetest girlfriend I've ever had," Violeta declared, giggling. "I can't think of any of them saying something like that. It'd sound too…"  
  
"...corny?" Cat offered.  
  
"Corny, cheesy, something like that." Violeta leaned forward. "If it doesn't work, I mean, if we don't work out because of this… you'll have someone else. I'm sure of it, and please don't think otherwise."  
  
Caterina responded with a nod. If anything this confirmed that Violeta, while still clearly torn up over it, had never really considered turning down her new posting. And to Cat, that was fine. That Violeta cared enough to not want to hurt Cat's feelings, to make Cat feel like Violeta couldn't wait to get away, as if Cat was the worst girlfriend ever… that was good enough.  
  
"Thank you for considering it anyway," Cat said. She leaned up and allowed Violeta to gently kiss her.  
  
Seconds after the kiss ended Cat noticed a shadow moving over Violeta. She looked past her girlfriend and ot the new arrival. Julia was looking as she always did in her uniform, combining authority and confidence, and even if Cat found some of it annoying at times - Julia's insistence on calling her "Lieutenant" or "Miss Delgado" on the bridge always felt off - she couldn't help but think it made Julia look completely cool most of the time. "How are you feeling, Cat?" Julia asked.  
  
"My head hurts. I feel like something big was set on top of my ribs. But I guess I'm okay."  
  
"That's good to hear." Julia smiled at her. "And I can sympathize with the ribs. I made the mistake of sparring with your sister this morning. I think she was trying to make a point."  
  
Caterina giggled at that. "Why would you do that? Angel always gets wound up when I'm hurt."  
  
"She does. And she needs to unwind." Julia placed a hand near belly. "Although I wish she wouldn't hit nearly so _hard_."  
  
Again Caterina giggled, and Violeta did as well. "So Doctor T'Soni is okay?" Cat asked. "Violeta said we got her off Therum."  
  
"We did. Your mission was a complete success," Julia assured her.  
  
"And I have the injuries to show it, I guess."  
  
Julia chuckled at that. "Among other things."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"For one thing, Cat, being wounded in the field means you get a commendation for being wounded in action. But more importantly, between this and Tira and your work in the sciences, well, Admiral Maran and I talked about that."  
  
"About what?" Cat asked.  
  
"About you. And what you've contributed. So now Admiral Maran's gotten the final nod from the board and, well…" Julia's smile widened. "Congratulations, Lieutenant _Commander_ Delgado."  
  
The only thing greater than Cat's shock was the smile that came to Violeta at the news.  
  
  
  
  
Main Engineering was active as always when Barnes stepped in. Beside him, Tali looked around and said, "This is… quite impressive."  
  
Barnes responded by leading her to the central control table of Engineering. "It damned sure is," he agreed amiably.  
  
At the table Scott looked up. "Ah, lad, good t' see ye. I've been meanin' t' talk t' ye about…" He noticed Tali and gave them an intent look. "An' who might this be?"  
  
Barnes nodded to Tali, who stepped forward. "I am Tali'Zorah nar _Rayya_ , Commander Scott. I'm currently serving with Commander Shepard's team on the _Normandy_."  
  
"So ye are. Ye're th' Quarian lass th' _Koenig_ picked up durin' that whole mess with th' Batarians, aren't ye?"  
  
"I am, sir. Tom let me join his engineering team when we attacked that Batarian pirate station."  
  
"So Tom did, did he?" Scotty gave Barnes a bemused look. "An' from th' sound o' things, it was a bloody good idea. Ye did a fine job on th' _Koenig_ 's engines that time."  
  
"Thank you, sir. And thank you both for letting me see your engine room. There's nothing like it in the Fleet."  
  
"I knew you'd like it," Barnes said.  
  
Nearby a younger officer with an East Asian appearance looked up. "Isn't this cute?" he asked in an English accent. "Barnes is getting approval for his new girlfriend."  
  
"Uh, what?" Tali asked, clearly bewildered.  
  
Barnes shot a glare toward the officer. "Can it, Li."  
  
That prompted laughter from every engineer in earshot.


	6. Chapter 6

**Tag**  
  
  
The _Normandy_ departed Feros the following "morning", by the standards of the _Aurora_ 's ship time. For the moment Feros still spun quietly outside of Julia's ready office window. A report from Admiral Maran approving the Armstrong Nebula mission was on her display.  
  
She was pulled from it by the door chime. She looked up and said, "Come in."  
  
To her surprise, it was Liara who stepped in. "Captain Andreys, good morning," she said. She'd replicated a new Asari-style jumpsuit of white and blue color to replace what she'd worn on Therum.  
  
"Good morning, Doctor." Julia shut down her screen and folded her hands on her table. "What can I do for you?"  
  
"I would like to request permission to remain on your ship, Captain," Liara replied. "For when you investigate Noveria."  
  
"Alright. Why?"  
  
"I've spoken with Shiala. The things she told me, I…" Liara shook her head in disbelief. When Julia gestured to one of the chairs in front of her desk, Liara gratefully sank into it. "I've always had a difficult relationship with Benezia," Liara admitted. "She didn't approve of my choice of career. She thought I should be a scholar on Thessia and that I was forsaking my potential."  
  
"I see."  
  
"But no matter how bad things are between us… I simply cannot accept she is willingly following Saren's madness, and Shiala has me thinking… if this is some sort of mental manipulation, maybe I can help undo it. Maybe I can save her. And I have to try."  
  
Julia nodded quietly. There was a part of her that sympathized with that. She would have loved to have saved her mother from the illness that claimed her. "Alright. But this isn't a safe place to be right now, Doctor, and I cannot honestly send you into the field unless I know for certain you can take care of yourself."  
  
"I understand. And I can, Captain," Liara insisted. "I've trained in my biotics for years, and I don't think I'm boasting when I say I'm a powerful biotic. And I know how to use a gun. I had to learn in order to work out here."  
  
"I see." Julia leaned back in her seat and considered the issue. "I'm not looking for a powerful biotic. But someone who understands Benezia, that I could use."  
  
Liara laughed at that. The laugh had a tinge of bitterness. "I am afraid I am not as useful there, but I do understand how she thinks, and I'm familiar with my mother's business holdings. Unless Saren has changed her that much…"  
  
Julia took the moment to consider Liara. She knew that the Asari were, compared to Humans, very long-lived. Liara herself was several decades older than Julia. But seeing her, Julia didn't see a being over a century old, but a very young woman who was determined and, yet, vulnerable. Whatever unfinished business she had with mother… well, that could complicate the mission.  
  
At the same time, there was no denying Liara might be valuable. And if she could turn Benezia against Saren, that might prove vital to stopping him.  
  
"Alright," Julia said. "Welcome aboard the _Aurora_ , Doctor. I'll have quarters arranged for you in the VIP section on Deck 6."  
  
"You needn't arrange anything special for me," Liara protested. "I've spent my career sleeping in frontier camps and run-down starships. I'll be fine wherever you can put me."  
  
"If it makes you feel better, we'll put you in our smallest quarters on Deck 6," Julia said. "But our ship was built to accommodate guests at times, so don't worry. It's not an imposition." Julia stood from her desk. "I'll have an operations officer assign you quarters immediately." She extended her hand. "Again, welcome to the _Aurora_ , Doctor T'Soni."  
  
Liara stood and accepted her hand, clearly familiar with the idea of a handshake. "Thank you, Captain Andreys."  
  
  
  
  
The _Aurora_ was underway by the time the morning shift began its rotations for lunch. Lucy was enjoying Hargert's offering of roast beef and ham sandwiches and leftover sausage stew, among other choices, when Meridina took a seat at the table with her own lunch. "You are enjoying Hargert's meal as usual," she observed.  
  
Lucy finished chewing and swallowed before answering, "It's always good for a pick-me-up."  
  
"And you need one? I sense your uncertainty."  
  
"I shouldn't be uncertain and I know it. I'm just... " Lucy sighed. Across from her Meridina was beginning her meal. "You've sensed Talara?"  
  
_I have_ , Meridina responded mentally, still chewing away at a sandwich. _Her_ swevyra _is potent. She has great potential if she is trained. Have you spoken to her on the possibility?_  
  
"I'm already showing her the basic control exercises, just as you did with me," Lucy said. "As for training… she spoke to me about it, actually. She asked me to train her."  
  
Meridina swallowed and nodded. "I see. That is a great honor."  
  
"Yeah, but…" Lucy rested her head on her hand, elbow on the table in uncaring defiance of proper table manners. That the thought crossed her head made Meridina smile slightly, amused as always by Lucy's tendency to intentionally defy propriety at times. "I know that I'm expected to train other Humans by your people. But I never put much thought into what I would do. How I would teach. I haven't had the possibility come up before. Is this something I can actually do, Meridina? Can I be a good teacher?"  
  
Meridina seemed to consider the question. "Long ago, my father and _Mastrash_ Ledosh told me that there was no more difficult task than to teach others. We must learn to balance our expectations with the realities of our students. We have to understand their needs and how they may need to be taught differently than we were. I learned this myself with you and with Robert."  
  
"I get that. Talara may easily learn things I had trouble with, or vice versa. And I know it's my job to work with that. I just…" Lucy shook her head. "Meridina, what if I fail her? What if I don't teach Talara the right way, and she gets herself killed? Or if she falls to darkness? It would be my fault."  
  
Meridina's response was a small, bemused laugh. "I know that fear," she confessed. "I felt the same with you. From your passions you often drew close to darkness, and I feared for you each time."  
  
"I know. I remember." Lucy nodded. "I wasn't the easiest student."  
  
"Talara does not seem to be as passionate as you."  
  
"She may be more. She's just so _eager_."  
  
"Indeed." Meridina sipped at her drink. "Commander Scott believes it makes her one of our best."  
  
"Maybe. I'm just worried that her eagerness and idealism will get her into trouble. She's already charged up from meeting Princess Allura. I think she wants to match Allura."  
  
"Yes. Much as I, as a child, wished to be as great a _swevyra'se_ as my father. And that can get her into trouble, and it would be your responsibility to teach her how to avoid it. Or mine, I suppose." Meridina briefly set her lunch aside. "Do you wish me to train her instead?"  
  
"You're First Officer now," Lucy protested. "You don't have time."  
  
"This is important. I would make time for it. Although I sense that Talara would prefer you as her teacher, that may not be the best for her, if you do not feel you could bring out her potential." Sensing the twisted emotions that remark brought Lucy, Meridina continued with, "There is no shame in admitting such, Lucy, please be sure of that. There are many great _swevyra'se_ who do not take personal apprentices. My father hasn't, as much as I wished he would take me. And he sits upon the Council."  
  
"I don't know if I can or not," Lucy said. "Robert thinks I can. I think I might be able to. But I won't know until I try, and if I fail… Talara deserves better."  
  
"What do your feelings tell you?" Meridina asked. "What does your _swevyra_ lead you to feel?"  
  
Lucy shrugged. "I… I suppose I feel I should. I feel I could do it."  
  
"Then my suggestion is you follow your feelings. Just as I did mine when the choice of teaching you came."  
  
Knowing how much that choice cost Meridina, Lucy accepted the advice with a nod. She drew in a breath and centered herself, pushing away the fears of failure, the stakes involved, focusing only on the question, and what the feeling inside of her told her was the right choice.  
  
Without a further word, Lucy tapped her omnitool and activated the comm link. "Lucero to Talara."  
  
After several moments Talara's voice responded. " _Talara here, Lieutenant. What can I do for you?_ "  
  
"Meet me at 1900 hours in Holodeck 2," Lucy replied, already checking the holodeck scheduling and laying a reservation in. "Tonight, I'll begin your training."  
  
" _You will not regret this, Lieutenant! Talara out!_ "  
  
"See?" Lucy asked Meridina. " _Eager_."  
  
There was a wide smile on the Gersallian woman's face. "Yes, she is, and in your own way, so are you, my former student."  
  
Lucy sighed and matched the smile. The damned truth was that Meridina was right.  
  
  
  
  
As the _Normandy_ continued on her way to the Armstrong Nebula, Robert sat alone on the armory deck. His omnitool whirred as he finished the repair on his armor for the shot that wounded him on Feros. When he was done he put the armor back on its support rack.  
  
As his eyes went over to his pistols, they focused on the new addition to his armory. He reached over and picked up the cylinder of metal. It was a little sleeker than the one Lucy used, with a prominent green button. He held it away and used his thumb to press it. A green energy blade flashed to life with an electronic snap-hiss. He gave it a few experimental swings, marveling at its lightness compared to the training blades he'd used before. He turned it off and put it back.  
  
The elevator door opened and he turned. Ashley walked out, wearing her standard issue blue duty uniform. She went straight to her gun rack and started her daily routine of checking her guns. She looked over and noticed him. "How's the hip?"  
  
"Healed," he answered.  
  
"Good."  
  
Robert considered Ashley as she went back to work. Again he worried about her, the benign xenophobia in her character that made her uncomfortable around non-Humans. Relatively-speaking, at least, since she'd worked so well with Tali on Feros. Robert wondered if she was warming up to the Quarian girl.  
  
The real test emerged from the elevator after it made a return trip. Garrus entered the armory/cargo deck and went for his gun rack. He pulled his sniper rifle off and brought the scope up. "Hey Sergeant?"  
  
"Hrm?" Ashley looked toward him.  
  
"Personal opinion. Does this look properly calibrated to you?"  
  
"Let me see." Ashley brought the rifle up and looked through the scope. "It looks off by about a centimeter. Maybe two."  
  
"Just what I thought. Good eye." Garrus received the rifle from her and set it on the desk. "You keep a good armory, Sergeant."  
  
"Thank you," she replied. "Dad always told me that a good Marine always takes care of his or her weapons. 'Take care of them and they take care of you.'"  
  
Garrus chuckled. "My father always used to make me field-strip the family rifle. Once a week, like clockwork, while he checked his C-Sec issue weapon."  
  
"Huh." Ashley continued her own work. "I guess being in C-Sec runs in the family?"  
  
"More or less. I guess we have that in common. Family service."  
  
Robert felt a tinge of anger in Ashley. "I guess we do." She looked at Garrus and the anger faded somewhat, replaced with… understanding, Robert felt.  
  
He didn't get a chance to muse on it. "What about you, Captain?" Garrus asked. "I've heard some crazy stories about your background. Did your elders ever put you in front of a rifle?"  
  
"Grandpa, when I was ten." Robert smiled from the memory. "Took me shooting, and then told me I'd be cleaning the gun. He left me in the shed with the rifle, cleaning kit, and a bottle of cleaning oil. Told me to be careful with how much I used." The old memory made him blush slightly, which didn't go unnoticed. "But I was a kid, and that bottle was empty well before it should have been."  
  
"Oh no," Garrus moaned.  
  
"You didn't," Ashley said.  
  
"Did. Spilled the whole bottle into the barrel."  
  
The reply to that was laughter. Robert laughed too, and it felt good. Not just from the memory, or sharing it, but because he could feel some of that negative sentiment in Ashley draining away. She was starting to see Garrus as a comrade in arms, not a possible alien foe, and it felt good to know she was tilting away from the dangers of her more negative sentiments.  
  
And if he had to endure a little embarrassment in that cause, well, he couldn't really complain, could he?  
  
"Just what did your Grandfather do when he found out?" Ashley asked, genuinely curious.  
  
"Gave me a good, long look, met me eye to eye… and told me to get that crap out of his rifle." Robert sighed. "Then he made me polish the whole weapon and the work table. I spent _all night_ cleaning."  
  
The reply was more laughter. And again, Robert joined in.


End file.
